Boundary dispute: Edo, Delta call for urgent demarcation of land

The Edo and Delta governments on Tuesday called on the National Boundary Commission to urgently demarcate the disputed land between both states.

The call was made in a communiqué issued after a meeting between the two states’ boundary committees led by their deputy governors at the Edo Government House in Benin.

The meeting was called by the Edo government following series of attacks on border communities in Orionmwon and Esan South East Local Government in Edo and Ethiop East, Ika South East and Ukwani Local Governments of Delta.

Edo Deputy Governor, Mr Philip Shaibu and his Delta counterpart, Mr Kingsley Otuaro stressed the need for the National Boundary Commission to urgently carry out physical demarcation of the disputed areas.

Shaibu harped on the need for both states to call on the commission to carry out the final demarcation of the boundary between Edo and Delta.

He urged communities in the border areas of both states to embraced peace, while the commission should carry out the demarcation of the boundary between both states without further delay.

Delta deputy governor said that there was need for both states to abide by the various decisions of past joint meetings of Edo and Delta as they relate to maintaining of status quo.

He said that boundary meetings for dispute resolution could only be done with the active participation of the national boundary commission, hence the need to expedite action on the resolution of the boundary between both states.

Both states reached an agreement during the meeting and constituted a joint committee comprising the attorney general, surveyor general, deputy chiefs of staff and commissioners of police of both states and local government chairmen of the disputed areas.