A Coalition of 46 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) under the platform of the Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness (CCLCA) has called on the Federal Government to investigate the alleged loss of about 780 hectares of Nigeria’s maritime waters within the Cross River estuary.
 
The coalition also urged the government to establish a Presidential Special Investigation Panel to examine the circumstances surrounding the alleged loss and address the lingering boundary and oil well disputes involving Cross River and Akwa Ibom states.
 
Director-General of CCLCA, Dr Gabriel Nwambu, made the call yesterday in Abuja while presenting recommendations contained in a communiqué issued after a fact-finding mission on the maritime boundaries in the Gulf of Guinea and the delineations between Nigeria and Cameroon.
 
According to Nwambu, the investigation, conducted in collaboration with several frontline rights organisations and experts, examined issues surrounding the ownership status of oil-bearing areas between Cross River and Akwa Ibom states.
 
“The Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness (CCLCA), in strategic collaboration with 12 frontline rights organisations and following a rigorous expert-led fact-finding mission into the maritime boundaries of the Gulf of Guinea and the ‘mouth of water’ delineations between Nigeria and Cameroon, our coalition has uncovered critical data regarding the ownership status between Cross River State and Akwa Ibom states,” he said.
 
He explained that the dialogue brought together 46 civil society organisations to deliberate on the findings and develop a sustainable roadmap for regional peace and administrative clarity.
 
Based on its findings, the coalition made several recommendations to President Bola Tinubu, including an immediate presidential review of the 2024 and 2025 inter-agency committee reports on oil well verification and derivation allocation affecting Cross River and Akwa Ibom states.