Geopolitics of Cameroon and Nigeria Border Crisis - Thesis Example

Substantial deposits of hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Guinea had made it necessary to ensure that exploration and production efforts enjoyed security. This thesis presents an examination of the International Court of Justice decision in the Nigeria vs. Cameroon case and attempts to determine how this decision influenced the balance of hydrocarbon reserves and the energy situation in the region.

The dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon over the political boundaries between the two countries was the result of shifting colonial occupation of territory after the two World Wars (Omoigui, “Origins of the Dispute”). When the British had first arrived in West Africa, the present-day states of Nigeria and Cameroon did not exist and the traditional rulers governed their shifting domains, which did not have firm political boundaries (Falola, Chapter 3). Prior to the establishment of the European colonial powers, the political situation in what is now the Southern part of Nigeria was as depicted in the figure presented below (Falola, pp. 52). On September 10, 1884, the Obong of Calabar in the now Southern Nigeria had signed a Treaty of Protection with the British that converted his kingdom into a British protectorate and the British were to gradually expand their colonial rule to the rest of the territory that is now Nigeria.

However, the region was also of interest to the Germans who had been expanding their colonial rule in the neighboring region of what is now Cameroon. Agreements signed between Britain and Germany demarcated their regions of colonial occupation. The first of such agreements between Britain and Germany concluded in March 1913 and a second agreement followed in April 1913 (Omoigui, “Origins to the Dispute”). This had resulted in the creation of a boundary between the British protectorate of Nigeria, and Germany occupied Cameroon from what is now Yola to the sea.
The Germans had conceded the “navigable portions” of the offshore portion to Britain in exchange for the Bakassi peninsula, which had been under the influence of Calabar because they could use the port at Douala.