ABSTRACT
The discovery of oil reserves in the waters surrounding Bakassi Peninsula subjected it to claims and counter-claims for sovereignty, military occupation and recourse to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). On October 10,2002, the International Court of Justice ruled that the Peninsula and the territory in the Lake Chad region should be under the sovereignty of Cameroon. This judgment elicited sensitive scholarly issues of citizenship and self-determination as fundamental human rights. Also, it encountered difficulties in implementation, which following intensive diplomatic activities culminating in the 12 June 2006 Green Tree Agreement brokered by the United Nations and guaranteed by four world powers- Britain, France, Germany and United States, set the modalities of withdrawal and transfer of authority in the Bakassi Peninsula.
This work, therefore, is a product of the study of the role of ICJ in the Nigeria-Cameroon boundary dispute. To this effect, we ascertained how the ICJ adjudication on the Bakassi Peninsula constituted the denial of the human rights of Bakassi citizens; the provisions of the Green Tree Agreement resolved the difficulties in the implementation of the ICJ ruling; the interests of external powers affected the adjudication and implementation of the ICJ ruling. We employed the schema theory of security dilemma as our analytical framework to provide a conceptual foundation for the study. Our method of data collection and analysis are qualitative and qualitative-descriptive methods respectively. In the final analysis, we posited that although the judgment was based on facts presented by both parties, the conduct of plebiscite that will take into cognizance the human rights of the Bakassi citizens would have been more effective in the settlement of the dispute.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE i
CERTIFICATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
ABSTRACT vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS viii
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Background of the Study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 7
1.3 Aims and Objectives of the Research 9
1.4 Scope of the Research 9
1.5 Research Methodology 10
1.6 Justification of the Study 10
1.7 Literatures Review 10
CHAPTER TWO: AN OVERVIEW OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE 18
2.1 Historical Evolution of the International Court of Justice 18
2.2 Membership of International Court of Justice 22
2.3 Power and Jurisdiction of the Court 23
2.4 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice 26
2.5 International Court of Justice in Perspective 27
2.6 Mechanism for Enforcement of ICJ Judgments 29
2.7 Pacific Settlement of Disputes Adjudication 31
2.8 Proceedings of the International Court of Justice 36
CHAPTER THREE: ENFORCEMENT OF ICJ, JUDGMENT IN THE CASE OF NIGERIA VS CAMEROON (BAKASSI PENINSULA) 39
3.1 Nigerian vs Cameroon: Facts of the Case 41
3.2 Decision of International Court of Justice and its Consequences
49
3.3 Compliance with the Court’s Decision 61
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 Consequences of Non-Compliance with the Decision of the Court
63
4.2 Options of the Decision 66
4.3 A Critique of the Green Tree Agreement Judgment on Bakassi peninsula 69
4.4 Implication of ICJ Ruling in Interstate Relation 78
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 85
5.1 Summary 85
5.2 Conclusion 92
BIBLIOGRAPHY 97
