Bakassi: Lost and Also Forgotten?

                     

Last Wednesday, August 14, 2013, Cameroon assumed full sovereignty over the Bakassi Peninsula with the completion of the final phase of the transfer by Nigeria. Sadly, there was no mention of it either by officials of the Nigerian government or in the media. Yet with the expiration of the five-year UN-backed transition period which exempted residents in the area from paying tax, they now have to face the challenge of citizenship as Cameroonians.

While the people who live in Bakassi are overwhelmingly Nigerians, the first issue they will contend with is that Cameroon does not allow for dual nationality. What that means is that they must make a choice between continuing to be Nigerians or Cameroonians. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that over 75 percent of them would wish to opt to be Cameroonians which is in itself very telling of the way we treat our citizens. Yet for those who wish to be Cameroonians, they will have to acquire some documentation. Doing this will not be easy.

Many of the Bakassi residents never had any citizenship documents. Without such documents, it is difficult for them to prove that they were Nigerians. Without such proof they cannot become Cameroonian. To compound their problem, there are no guarantees that they can get assistance from anywhere in order to facilitate access to such documentation. As things stand, many of them could end up becoming stateless - neither Nigerians nor Cameroonians. For those who opt to remain Nigerian, they could be left with the only choice of staying in Bakassi as residents and in the process becoming undocumented immigrants in their own land.

None of the foregoing options will come easy. Acquiring lawful residence in Cameroon can be expensive. The nearest place where that is processed is in Mudemba, about three hours from Bakassi. The trip to Mudemba is time consuming and expensive. The cost of a two -year residence permit is 130,000 CFA ($260 or N42,000) while the cost of a ten year permit is about double that. For the people of Bakassi, these sums are entirely prohibitive. Pending when the Nigerians who are trapped in the Bakassi odyssey have received such documentation, they live precariously and will need to negotiate daily subsistence on shakedowns from local gendarmes and douanieres (customs).

What is perhaps the biggest scandal in all these is that there is no authority within the Nigerian government with responsibility of dealing with the Bakassi challenge. The Attorney General of the Federation led the negotiations for the handover before the Nigeria-Cameroon Joint Commission but his office has not shown that it cares for the people. The Ministry of Defence pulled out from the territory a long time ago. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) doesn’t even maintain effective assets there. The Cross River State Government seems to be angry at not having received any compensation for the losses incurred through ceding the territory. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs played no critical role.

What is evident is that the Nigerians in the Peninsula have nowhere to go for solace. They have accused Cameroonian authorities of violating the terms of the agreement by forcibly giving their communities Cameroonian names, denying them economic rights, and imposing discriminatory taxes. Yet all that they are asking for is some care from their country, which is not forthcoming. “As we look ahead, one main challenge will be to protect the livelihood and human rights of the affected populations, whether they are Cameroonians or Nigerians”, the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki -moon had warned last year but nobody is paying attention again.

The Federal Government has repeatedly assured those living in the Bakassi Peninsula of its determination to explore all avenues necessary to protect their interests. This is the time to make good such promise. A joint enumeration of the populations will be needful and this will require a role for the Human Rights institutions of both Cameroon and Nigeria. There is also the need for the designation of an agency to facilitate access to documentation for those Bakassi people who desire it or establishment of a Nigerian consulate within the territory.

While diplomatic options remain the most practical, Nigeria should also take advantage of the provisions of the Green Tree Agreement for the protection of the interests of our citizens living in the territory. In particular, the attention of the Federal Government should be drawn to Article 3 which stipulates among others that “Cameroon, after the transfer of authority to it by Nigeria, guarantees to Nigerian nationals living in the Bakassi Peninsula the exercise of the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in international human rights law and in other relevant provisions of international law. “  Although President Obasanjo signed the Green Tree Agreement on behalf of Nigeria on June 12, 2006 it has not been domesticated by the National Assembly in line with section 12 of the Nigerian Constitution.

Therefore, while the Agreement is not yet binding on Nigeria it is automatically binding on Cameroon by virtue of the monist doctrine under international law.