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Ebonyi, Benue Agree to End Border Dispute

This Day (Lagos)
NEWS
June 21, 2004
Posted to the web June 21, 2004

By Chinedu Eze
Abakaliki
Ebonyi and Benue States have taken a bold step to end incessant feud on the
border between the two states as the deputy governors met in Abakaliki at the
weekend to fashion out ways of maintaining peace at the border.
Dr. Chigozie Ogbu, Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State and his Benue State's
counterparts, Dr. Ogiri Agene met in Abakaliki on Friday with officials from
both states and agreed that joint public enlightenment be carried out on the
border "at a higher level than what is currently going on" and that the two
states should constitute a joint peace committee to educate members of the
communities at the border.
The meeting also recommended that the law enforcement agents be empowered to
police the boundary to ensure that atrocities were not committed along the
borders and that the Commissioners of Police of the two states should work
together, especially at this farming season to ensure that peace is maintained
in the area, urging the border communities to remain calm and law-abiding.
It also called for the establishment of a joint border development committee to
handle the construction of the Agila/Ngbo road, which cuts across the two
states and recommended that the buffer zone earlier established at the border
by the two local government areas from the two states located at the border
should be respected.
Both states requested that the National Boundary Commission should call for a
joint consultative committee meeting, which would be held in Ebonyi State as
was agreed in June 2000 by both states in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.

   

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