Benue/Taraba crises to be over soon – Boundary Commission

The National Boundary Commission (NBC) says the interstate boundary crisis between communities in Taraba and Benue would soon be over.

Mr Adamu Adaji, the Acting Director-General of the Commission, made this know during his opening remark at the Joint Meeting of officials on the Benue and Taraba inter-state boundary, on Thursday in Abuja.

Adaji said Benue and Taraba shared common cultural and historical antecedence, adding that boundary conflict had created bad blood between them.

He said that boundary dispute between Benue and Taraba dated back to 1976 when Gongola was created.

According to him, the then Wukari Division made up of Wukari, Takum and Donga Local Administrative Areas were carved out of Benue and merged with Sardauna and Adamawa Provinces to form the new state

“The good news is that the present administration, at both the Federal and State levels, are committed and determine to bring the impasse to a permanent end.

“Between 1994 to 1997, progress was made on tracing and demarcation of the boundary but was truncated by crisis and security challenges. Same thing again happened between 2005 and 2008.

“NBC, Benue and Taraba Government held several meetings and the Technical Committee comprising of members from the Commission, Benue and Taraba brought out recommendations to resolve the issues.

“Soon, the boundary between Benue and Taraba will be demarcated with 200 main pillars which will be done between February and June 2020.

“The segment of the boundary is categorised as a. Logo/Wukari and Ukum/Wukari sectors b. Katsina-Ala/Wukari and c. Katsina-Ala/Takum sectors and finally Kwande/Takum sector.

“We shall also sensitise border communities to understand that demarcation is not to encourage war but rather to indicate limits for administrative convenience,” Adaji said.

Speaking earlier, the Deputy Governor of Taraba, Mr Haruna Manu, said that the unclear nature of the border between Benue and Taraba had led to a lot of crises in the past.