Nigeria - Cameroon borderland: Prospects of economic cooperation and integration

Most of the international boundaries in Africa were delimited in the last quarter of the 19 century. The adoption of the “Uttis possedis” principle of boundary maintenance by African states in 1963 solidified the boundary regimes. The state-centric policies in border management result in further conflicts, wars and litigation depriving of cross-border cooperation. Though attempts at economic cooperation have been made at regional and sub-regional levels, results have not been encouraging. It has become imperative the African countries to adopt new models of economic cooperation and integration. This requires some new thoughts so the cross-border concept has to be analyzed to look at the potential for economic integration. The paper suggests that transborder cooperation focused on historical linkages could considerably reduce conflicts and litigation, and the borders converted to bridges rather than barriers from the grassroots as opposed to the state-centric views.