Historical Perspectives on Boundary Disputes in West Africa and Their Lessons for Contemporary Nigerian Diplomacy

This study examines the historical origins and diplomatic resolution of selected boundary disputes in West Africa, drawing professional lessons for Nigerian diplomatic practice from case studies including the Nigeria-Cameroon Bakassi Peninsula dispute, the Ghana-Cote d'Ivoire maritime boundary delimitation, and the Burkina Faso-Niger border demarcation resolved at the International Court of Justice. Border disputes in West Africa are predominantly colonial legacies produced by the Berlin Conference partition process, which prioritised European administrative convenience over indigenous territorial organisation. Using a professional comparative historical and legal analysis design, the study reviews International Court of Justice case files, bilateral boundary commission reports, and the Lake Chad Basin Commission boundary protocols, supplemented by secondary literature published between 2020 and 2024. The International Boundary Law Theory and the Colonial Legacy Framework provide the analytical lenses. Findings reveal that successful boundary dispute resolutions in West Africa share three common features: political will at the highest executive level, technical commitment to the legal evidence process rather than nationalist rhetoric, and provision for community cross-border rights as part of final settlement packages. The Bakassi case, in which Nigeria ceded the oil-rich peninsula to Cameroon following the International Court of Justice ruling in 2002, is examined as a model of constitutionalist foreign policy restraint. Keywords: boundary disputes, West Africa, diplomacy, Bakassi Peninsula, International Court of Justice.