Culture and Policy in Nigeria\'s South-Eastern International Borderland

Abstract

The management of inherited colonial international borderlands, as is the case with Nigeria\'s south eastern international borderland, has been the bane of African cooperation as, African states seek to maintain the features of the modern state system with emphasis on sovereignty. This is at conflict with the interests of the borderland communities who desire unfettered access to their kith and kin severed by the artificial boundaries. In addition, the application of complex legal and geometric technicalities in the management of border disputes, in preference to the more humanistic factor of culture creates discord in the borderland. This paper contends that the borderland possesses an organic and human character with pervasive cultural values and usages which are capable of being harnessed in policy formulation. The Nigeria – Cameroon experiment would be instructive for espousing the potency of culture for boundary management in Africa.

Lagos Historical Review, vol. 5 (2005), 75-98