President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in Abuja expressed optimism that Nigeria’s bid to expand its maritime territory, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), is fully on course and would be achieved without ‘war, litigation, or purchase.’
‘I am looking forward to the day that I can announce to Nigerians that additional maritime territory has been approved for Nigeria by the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf,’ President Buhari said while receiving a progress report from the High-Powered Presidential Committee on Nigeria’s Extended Continental Shelf Project.
‘I have always had a special interest in this project right from the first day I heard of it because this type of project where Nigeria will gain additional territory without conflict has never happened before in her lifetime.
‘I am therefore glad that it is happening within our lifetime. This is one of the many reasons I have been ardently following your progress over time.
‘It is my intention to support the submission to the United Nations for the additional maritime area, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to claim for Nigeria every bit of space that she deserves under UNCLOS.
‘It is pleasing to know that most wars that have taken place in the world since time immemorial including present times have always been territorial, and Nigeria has this one and only chance to gain territory without war, litigation, or purchase.
‘More so when this territory lies within the area dubbed as “the Golden Triangle” in the Gulf of Guinea, which contains unquantifiable resources some of which have not even been discovered.’
