THE GREEN TREE AGREEMENT: NIGERIA CEDES BAKASSI TO CAMEROUN – REVISITING THE ISSUES

Abstract

The conduct of international relations is carried out through agreements, conventions, pacts, general acts, charters, declarations and treaties. These spell out the conditions and arrangements through which the parties oblige themselves in the conduct of their relationship. Thus, they have such tremendous impact on the society as they lay down the necessary, recognized conditions of operation. This research will essentially explain the agreement made between Nigeria and Cameroon at Green Tree, New York where Nigeria ceded its territory of Bakassi peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon in accordance with the judgment of the International Court of Justice of 10^th October, 2002, in the matter of land and maritime boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria. The discussion here bothers on the nationality of the people of Bakassi as it has brought to fore Nigeria’s influence and interactions with her immediate neighbours on the African continent as well as her efforts towards building an enduring peaceful co-existence in the African sub-region. This paper shall use the theory of cooperation and integration in its analysis.