President Bola Tinubu yesterday received the report of the High Powered Presidential Committee, HPPC, on Nigeria’s extended continental shelf project, with a commendation to the team of experts who worked hard over the years to advance the project
The project aims to extend Nigeria’s maritime boundaries in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982.
The President expressed his appreciation in Abuja after listening to technical presentations by Professor Larry Awosika, a marine scientist and member of the committee, and Surveyor Aliyu Omar, Secretary of HPPC.
The experts have been involved in the project since Nigeria’s initial submission to extend its continental shelf to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in 2009.
They informed the President that the UN has approved Nigeria’s submission, granting sovereignty over additional square kilometres of maritime territory.
These interactions and consideration have now culminated in the approval for Nigeria to extend its continental shelf beyond 200M (200 nautical miles).
‘’As it stands now, the area approved for Nigeria is about 16,300 square kilometres, which is about five times the size of Lagos State,” Surveyor Omar told the president
A lot of Nigerians have reacted to this, the president should first take care of the current number of regions we have in the nation, not acquiring more.