BY JOSEPHINE IGBINOVIA

Senator Florence Ita Giwa, a delegate at the ongoing National Conference and Chairman, Conference Committee on the Environment, has pleaded with the Federal Government to compensate her people.

Ita-Giwa while contributing to the report of the Committee on Foreign Policy and Diaspora Matters, said the ceding arrangement which was ordered by the International Court of Justice in the Hague and carried out by Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration was just to show to the world that two countries could settle a dispute without necessarily losing blood or staying perpetually in court.

According to Ita-Giwa, it would have been a misplaced priority if the issue of ceding Bakassi to Cameroun led to war between both countries, adding that all the people needed to be placated was better settlement through compensation.
She appealed to other stakeholders to prevail on the Federal Government to  adequately compensate the people of Bakassi even though they have been
relocated.

Commenting on the Green Tree Agreement, she said that Nigeria after the end of the military intervention, subjected herself to that jurisdiction in the Hague.
“Nigeria was obliged to abide by that ruling as we were told that by being  obliged to that ruling, we used Bakassi as a litmus test to show to the  world that two countries can settle a dispute without loss of blood and  without staying forever in court,” she said.