Boundary crisis: Farming activities suspended in Bauchi, Gombe communities

All activities including farming have been suspended in some communities in Bauchi and Gombe states owing to boundary crisis.

This is contained in a communique issued at the end of a meeting of officials on the Bauchi/Gombe interstate boundary.

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The communique was jointly signed by the deputy governor/chairman, Bauchi State Boundary Committee, Senator Baba Tela; the deputy governor/chairman, Gombe State Boundary Committee, Manassah Daniel Jatau and the Director-General, National Boundary Commission, Adamu Adaji.

The meeting resolved, “That the affected communities in the Jurara Abbas/Bawa-Zego sector in line with the previous agreement should not carry out any activity in the sector until the boundary is demarcated.”

Jurara Abbas/Bawa-Zego is in Ganjuwa and Dukku Local Government Areas of Bauchi and Gombe States respectively.

The traditional rulers had in their submissions at the meeting advocated peaceful resolution of the disputes, calling on the border communities to maintain the status quo by suspending all farming activities in the disputed areas so that peace would be maintained until final demarcation.

Speaking at the meeting, the Director-General of the National Boundary Commission said: “The Jurara Abbas/Bawa-Zego sector of the interstate boundary constitutes a flashpoint with reports of an occasional crisis of attacks and counterattacks that had regrettably resulted in the loss of lives and property.

“We must be firm and muster the political will to ensure that we usher in peace amongst our border communities by respecting the agreed boundary alignment.”

The meeting also resolved that a joint sensitisation/enlightenment campaign be undertaken by the states in the border communities on the need to maintain peace along the boundary corridor.