OPINION
By Engr Awowoh Christian
With due respect to the distinguished Senate President, Cross River State cannot cease to be a littoral state simply because someone says so. Geography is not determined by political speeches; it is established by historical records, coordinates, hydrographic evidence, navigable channels and the physical relationship between land, rivers, estuaries and the Atlantic.
The map accompanying this statement is instructive. It shows the Cross River estuarine system opening towards the Atlantic, with the Akpa-Afe area and its islands positioned at the mouth of the estuary. These are matters that deserve serious scientific examination, not political dismissal
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The Calabar Port is deep inside the Calabar estuary, while the Akpa-Afe islands are situated much closer to the Atlantic approaches. Indeed, the Federal Government has itself undertaken hydrographic, geophysical and geotechnical surveys for the proposed Bakassi Deep Seaport, with the National Hydrographic Agency subsequently presenting navigational charts to Cross River State. The Cross River Government has said those charts affirm the State’s coastal status.
It is therefore difficult to understand why the geographical and scientific dimensions of this matter should be reduced to a political declaration.
I have personally had the privilege of undertaking studies over several years around the Small and Great Qua Rivers, the Akpa-Afe zone and the wider Cross River estuarine system, examining sediment transportation patterns, siltation and their implications for port location and navigability. These studies extended into the offshore environment towards the Agbami FPSO.
The issue before us is therefore bigger than politics. Let the maps speak. Let the hydrographic data speak. Let history speak. Let science speak.
The loss of Bakassi to Cameroon was a painful historical development for Cross River and Nigeria. But it must not become a precedent for progressively stripping Cross River of every remaining aspect of its maritime heritage.
This is another attempt to rewrite the geographical heritage of Cross River. We must resist it with facts, science and lawful process—not hatred or hostility toward our brothers and sisters in Akwa Ibom.
Cross River seeks no one’s heritage. But neither should Cross River be asked to surrender its own.
Injustice may endure for a season, but it does not last forever.
— Engr. Awowoh
Former South-South Representative in the Federal Board of The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
