Assam clarifies Akwa Ibom–Cross River oil dispute, attributes tensions to new wells
Former Nigerian Ambassador to Russia and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Assam Assam, has clarified that the longstanding disagreement between Akwa Ibom and Cross River states over offshore oil wells is not rooted in unclear boundaries, but in disputes over revenue from newly discovered wells.
Speaking on Arise News Television on Thursday, Assam said the conflict, which stretches back more than two decades, resurfaced due to the identification and allocation of 218 new oil wells, rather than the original 76 wells often cited in public discussions.
“What we fail to appreciate is that this problem arose as a consequence of the revenue mobilisation exercise in determining the location of new oil wells.
”We are not talking about 76 oil wells. We are talking about 218 new oil wells,” he said.
Assam traced the origin of the dispute to June 1999, when Cross River State approached the Supreme Court to declare that 76 oil wells in the estuary of the Cross River fell within its maritime territory.
The matter lingered until 2005 but was later influenced by the 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on the Nigeria-Cameroon boundary, which altered Nigeria’s internal maritime maps.
“The unintended consequence of that ICJ decision was that it redrew Nigeria’s internal maps,” Assam explained, noting that the ICJ ruling affected the Akwaiafe River, a tributary of the Cross River, extending three nautical miles into the estuary in line with the 1913 Anglo-German Treaty.
Rejecting claims that the boundary is still unresolved, Assam stated that all lines were definitively established years ago.
In 2008, an inter-agency committee in Kano, involving the National Boundary Commission (NBC), confirmed the boundary maps, which were later upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012 following the Green Tree Agreement.
“The maps were properly drawn and presented by the National Boundary Commission.
”I have a letter from the NBC chairman to the chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission confirming these facts,” Assam said.
Assam emphasised that the current disagreements relate exclusively to the physical coordinates of the 218 new oil wells, which were jointly verified by state surveyors-general, the NBC, the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), and the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation.
“Coordinates do not change. The only permanent thing on this earth is coordinates. If an oil well is plotted at a particular point, that point will remain forever,” he said.
He added that entitlement to oil revenue depends entirely on whether these coordinates fall within a state’s recognised territory.
Assam acknowledged Cross River State’s right to contest the findings but insisted that resolution must be technical, not political.
He urged both states to collaborate with the technical committee to plot the coordinates and allow the NBC to determine rightful ownership.
“At no time will those coordinates change the boundaries of Cross River State or Akwa Ibom State,” Assam concluded, stressing the immutability of scientific data in resolving the dispute.
