Can Nigerian Government Deny Landlocked Biafra Access To The Ocean? See Here
Good morning naijaworlders I have started finding the politics section very interesting. Today I had a debate with a good naijaworlder on how Biafra could get access to the ocean without hinderance by the Nigerian Government If a split happens. Why people think that would be a challenge well, it is but not on the basis of blocking from accessing the ocean. Most of the challenge will come from the Ability of Biafra to work out a frame work to dredge and find the closest es routes to the ocean. Before I proceed, let me highlight some key routes Biafra can reach the ocean. The geography of the Niger rivers gives Biafra lot of riverine access to the ocean however some may not be navigable. I’m aware of several navigable routes like the one that leads to the onitsha port and the Azumini River via IMO River in Abia state (this is more feasible because it’s not very far from the ocean). Now the question is, can Nigerian Government block Biafra from accessing the ocean via this routes? The answer is No. how? I’m gonna answer that quickly. There two international laws that gives A landlocked country with riverine access to the seas like Biafra rights to navigate vessels even through the Nigerian waterways; the United Nations convention on the laws of the seas (UNCLOS) and the law of international water resource law. Theses laws guide international maritime and admiralty transport frameworks. I will explain them in a bit. The UNCLOS give right to landlocked states to access the sea without taxation tariffs by the other transit/neighboring countries. On this basis, Nigerian Government cannot block Biafra from accessing the sea via a navigable river route, however vessels might pay normal customs duties, this duties wouldn’t be different from what it collect from other vessels. The International water resource law says that a country has rights to all non-navigable (I.e. to the ocean) water bodies in its territory, however will allow access by other states to navigable water bodies. So I think we should focus on other discussion and forget about access to Atlantic oceans. Goodluck to those parties, whether the country divides or not, I’m okay. Just wanted to clear this
