Gov. Dapo Abiodun on Thursday urged the Southwest States to continually adopt peaceful means to resolve all boundary issues.
Abiodun warned that if boundary matters were not settled peacefully, the people of the border communities would suffer from both ends while development in such places would also be stalled.
According to him, without amicable resolution of conflicts, those living in the borders towns would continue to suffer development deficit as no investor would invest in volatile environment.
The governor spoke during a two – day interactive session of national boundary committees of the States in the Southwest zone at Conference Hotel, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
“We can hardly talk about production or boundary that we will not be talking about land. Recently, there are lots of communal issues between herders and farmers. All these have to do with utilization of the available land. It is therefore important that all of us must continue to adopt peaceful means of resolving the boundary issues.
“The fact remains that if we do not resolve boundary issues peacefully, the people of the border communities will suffer from both ends. There will be no development in such a place and even investors will not be attracted to such locations,” he warned.
The Governor attributed the oneness of the Yoruba ethnic group to the low level of boundary infractions in the South-West Zone. He however, linked border issues to land being the major factor of production and a means of wealth generation.
He said Ogun State would continue to be committed to peaceful resolutions of boundary matters, stressing that for development to be sustained, it was critical that neighbouring States also thrived.
“There is no way that the rate of development in our neighbouring States will not affect us one way or the other. We recognize that the successful implementation of our “Building our Future Together” Agenda will also be impacted from other States. And, that is why we have continued to collaborate with other States”, he noted.
According to him, plans had reached advanced stage for establishing Lagos-Ogun Joint Development Commission.
He explained that the Commission, when it becomes operational, would optimize the shared values of the nation’s two most industrialized States, with the aim of managing the overflow and diversity of development from Lagos State to Ogun State.
He also noted that Ogun State was also working with Ondo State to activate the Deep sea port project in the mutual interest of the two States and the country’s economic development, expressing the confidence that the interactive session would proffer more practical recommendations on boundary issues in Southwest and strengthen relationship towards creating a better tomorrow.
“Ogun as the Nation’s Gateway to the sub-region faces a challenge with Benin on the oil-rich Tongeji Island, which though located close to Port Novo in Benin Republic, is actually situated in Ipokia Local Government of Ogun State in Nigeria.
“This administration is determined to make life meaningful for the citizens of the state living within the Island to ensure that the Republic of Benin that shares boundary with the state does not take advantage of that proximity.
“We are well aware of likely deposits of petroleum reserves on the island and we hereby call on the Federal Government to join hands with us in giving the residents of the island a sense belonging by providing access road / bridge for them amongst their other needs.
“Because of our peculiar location and an international boarder with Benin Republic, we have had very unpleasant experiences with migrant herders whose influx resulted into skirmishes in the Yewa axis with our farmers.
“We have already doused the tension in that axis at by employing a few initiatives that have yielded results. These are the challenges we face as a Gateway State; it is a mixed bag of opportunities and challenges our people face as friendly and accommodating as we are by nature”
Earlier in his remarks, the Director General, National Boundary Commission; Surv. Adamu Adaji, said the interactive session was meant to serve as a way of sensitising stakeholders on the activities of boundary managers at various levels and also means to providing opportunity for relevant stakeholders in the zone to interface with the Commission on ways to strategize and fast track resolutions on issues of internal boundaries.
Adaji noted that the National Boundary Commission was established as a specialised border problem solving institution to address the shortcomings of the previous adhoc commission, adding however that the creation of more states has created many boundary issues in the country
