Nigeria will abide by ICJ ruling on Bakassi —Buhari

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has assured that Nigeria will abide by the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Bakassi Peninsula.

He gave the assurance in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on Wednesday, while speaking at an interactive session with Nigerians living in Cameroon, during his two-day working visit to the country,
Buhari said his administration would ensure the faithful implementation of the Green Tree Agreement, which regulates the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon.
“Since Nigeria allowed the case to go to court (ICJ) and we lost, we have to abide by it,” the president said, in response to a question from a Nigerian on the issue.
President Buhari added that his administration had yet to articulate a foreign policy for Nigeria beyond what was captured in the All Progressives Congress (APC) party’s  manifesto, adding, however, that “we will make our embassies more efficient and improve our relations with other countries.”
The president urged Nigerians in the diaspora to be law abiding in their host countries and told representatives of the over four million Nigerians living in Cameroon to continue to live in peace and harmony with Cameroonians.
On the plight of some 40,000 Nigerian refugees in Cameroon, who were forced to flee their homes because of Boko Haram terrorists, the president said the Federal Government would ensure their safe return and rehabilitation in the shortest possible time.
According to him, “we also have about 1.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria and we have a programme of rehabilitation and reintegration into the society for them, which involves providing shelter and schools to the displaced persons.”
Responding to a question on the voting rights for Nigerians in the diaspora, the president promised that his administration would revisit the issue, which would require legislation from the National Assembly.
On the fight against Boko Haram, the president assured Nigerians that the current security challenges were not insurmountable.
He said Nigeria was working with all its neighbours, including Cameroon, to fight and stand firmly against all forms of terror and trans-border crimes.