By Newslineglobal.com
Soon the age long boundary dispute
between Enugu and Ebonyi states will be a thing of the past as the government of the two sister -states had resolved to settle the boundary disputes they had over the years.
This was contained in a communique presented at the end of a joint meeting on inter-state boundary, held on Thursday, at the Nike Lake resort, Enugu,
The joint meeting was attended by the Deputy governor of Enugu state, Hon(Mrs) Cecilia Ezeilo and her Ebonyi state counterpart, Eric Igwe the Director-General, National boundary commission,Surveyor Adamu Adaji , traditional rulers and top government officials,
Director-General of the National Boundary Commission, Adamu Adaji who presented the communique
commended Enugu and Ebonyi states for their resolve to settle the boundary dispute amicably.
The communique said that they discussed the continuation of the monumentations of primary pillars and other emergent issues concerning the disputed and skipped sectors of the boundary and narrowing the claims of the states to arrive at a single boundary line .
The Ebonyi state delegation was led by the Deputy governor and chairman boundary committee, Kelechi Igwe while the Enugu delegation was led by
Enugu state deputy governor and boundary committee chairman ,Hon. (Mrs) Cecilia Ezeilo, the director general, National boundary Commission, Surveyor Adamu Adaji, the Surveyor general of the federation was represented by Surveyor Dunnia Magaji Joseph ,managing director ,Internal boundaries , office of the surveyor general of the federation.
According to the communique, Enugu state deputy governor and boundary committee chairman ,Hon. (Mrs) Cecilia Ezeilo, expressed delight to discuss the issue of boundary that has been stalled for a long time and efforts of the federal government towards speedy demarcation of the boundary.
She also thanked the state Governor, Rt. Hon.(Dr) Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, for ensuring a peaceful boundary resolution
On his part, the Deputy governor of Ebonyi state , Kelechi Igwe, expressed disappointment over the non completion of boundaries of Ebonyi state and charged the national boundary commission to chat a way forward and provide guidelines for outstanding activities. He assured the meeting of Ebonyi state support .
In his address, the director general NBC commended both states for their peaceful boundary negotiations .
He reiterated the needs for them to continue and sustain the achievements made so far, so that all ambiquities shall be amicably resolved
In their separate remarks, the representatives of traditional rulers in Enugu and Ebonyi states assured their corporation to the governments of both states .
The commumique disclosed that the Surveyor General of the federation, presented the reports of the technical committtee meeting of November 9,2022 and that the report highlighted the activities undertaken on the boundaries as well as the outstanding sectors and made appropriate recommendations
The meeting received and adopted the report, and after exhaustive discussions noted as follows:
“That the joint meeting had monumented a total of 49 out of the expected 146 consensus sectors of the boundary during the 2021 exercise
“The disputed and skipped sectors are yet to be resolved . After exhaustive deliberations, the meeting resolved that the monumentations of the outstanding consensus sectors shall resume on Tuesday, 15, November, 2022 ,
“That all activities on the boundaries shall be concluded within 60 days.
“National boundary commission shall consider and use as appropriate, the supreme Court judgement with respect to section One in the boundary definition
“Adequate security shall be provided during the execerise by states and federal government.
“The states assisted by the affected local government areas and traditional institutions shall sensitise and enlighten the affected border communities for prevailing peace to be sustained as well as the required cooperation on its favor.
“The Ebonyi and Enugu states government shall find and provide logistics to their respective teams in joint meeting,” they stated