Delta State has dismissed claims that the boundary dispute with Ondo State over oil wells has been resolved, and has vowed not to concede any of its oil wells to its neighbours.
The Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Urban Development, Mr Terry Noah, stated this while briefing reporters on activities of his ministry.
“The issue between Ondo and Delta has not been concluded. I know that sometime ago the National Boundaries Commission had what I called a provisional agreement. The boundary should cut across a particular line, which we challenged,” he said, adding that the Northern point of the line has been defined but that the southern point has not been agreed upon.
The commission explained that there was an attempt to define the southern point but because of the security situation in the area over the Ijaw, Itsekiri, Ilaje problem it was not possible to go there.
“If you define that line by the present definition, (it) will put all those oil wells on the side of Ondo. But we have not agreed on that�So you are not going to define that point arbitrarily. It should be based on the people who are physically occupying the land, and they are the Itsekiri, who are from Delta,” Noah further stated.
“So if we succeed in getting that point to the point were it ought to be, you will find that if you draw that line, which is going to be perpendicular to the shore line, all these oil wells that are said to be in Ondo will obviously come to Delta. That is why I said the issue has not been resolved the matter is ongoing and until it is resolved, we cannot say it is over.”
He said most of the funds from those oil wells are being kept in an escrow account, that the state had lost nothing and would get its due at the appropriate time.
“I assure you we will get all our entitlement because the truth is that it is Deltans mostly Itsekiri that live in that place. What happened was there was a disturbance during the Ijaw/Itsekiri wahala. Many of them ran away and the Ondo people moved in and occupied it; they are not the original residents of that place. So the issue is still being handled and I�m sure it is going to turn out in our favour,” he stressed.
At a recent press conference in Lagos, the Itsekiri ethnic group voiced its objection to the reported cession of its land to Ondo by the National Boundaries Commission and has filed a suit in court challenging the decision.