Nigeria will Not concede Further Territory to Cameroon - Surveyor-General

The Surveyor-General of the Federation, Prof. Peter Nwilo, has said that Nigeria is not losing more territory to Cameroon.Nwilo, who was a guest at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum, said Nigeria did not have any problem with Cameroon particularly in Obudu and its environs.He said recent speculations that Nigeria was about to cede some parts of Cross Rivers to Cameroon was not true but based on the ignorance.

That (Nigeria is losing further territory to Cameroon) is not true. It's ignorance because one of the places that Nigeria didn't have problem with Cameroon was in that (Obudu) area.

The pillars are in place; it is only one (pillar) that was missing and the surveyors have to move, instead of going straight, they moved back.

In surveying, one of the things we do is that if you are going straight and you find out that you cannot pass through a place, you can move backwards.

But what is important is that you want to get to where you are going. I think that was what people saw and said they have ceded Nigerian part to Cameroon.

"Those pillars were recovered when our people went to site, including the Cameroonians, they were there. There's nothing like any part of Nigeria being ceded to Cameroon," he said.

The surveyor-general explained that the speculations had been laid to rest when the relevant agencies appeared before the National Assembly over the matter and the legislators were satisfied with the explanations.

When we were invited by the National Assembly when that matter came up, of course, we went and explained to them the true situation that was on the ground.

I was there, the surveyor-general of Cross River was there and everybody saw that there was no truth in that. What you don't know, you don't know it.

"But after we explained to government at the National Assembly, they saw that there was no Nigerian land that was lost," he said.

Nwilo explained that the UN supported Nigeria and Cameroon to identify their pillars through "a tortuous path" so as to monument all the areas.

He said where the monuments were no more, the two countries had to agree on what monument to use so as to identify their borders.

Where there are pillars, you take note of them. Where they (pillars) are no more, you agree on how to monument.

So the United Nations have supported the countries; they have a joint committee.

"Some funds were provided by the United Nations and some provided by the countries concerned and that work is almost completed," he said.