Bakassi after the International Court of Justice Judgment (ICJ), Matters Arising

Abstract

After over 15 years of displacement from their ancestral home, following the International Court of Justice ruling ceding the sovereignty of Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroun, the Bakassi Returnees are still grappling with the challenges of being properly resettled. This research is an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the inability of the authorities concerned to resettle the affected people. The research was anchored on the theoretical framework of relative deprivation, which implies that feelings of relative deprivation arise when desires become legitimate expectations and those desires are blocked by society. Societal satisfaction is the opposite of relative deprivation. The study consulted primary sources largely through an Oral interview, as well as secondary source materials from the University of Calabar, Cross River State, and National Libraries. It was discovered that low priority is given by both the Federal and State Governments to the issue of Bakassi Resettlement. Besides, it was also discovered that there was no clear-cut policy and legal instruments and institutions to deal with the post-displacement situation. The work argued that the non-implementation of various Committees' Reports on the Bakassi Resettlement and the Political machinations by the host Community of Bakassi Returnees constituted the challenges to the Bakassi resettlement. The research recommended that Government should muster Political Will and resettle the people at Dayspring Island, which is a location of their choice amongst others.