BRIDGES ACROSS AFRICA'S INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARIES: SOCIO-CULTURAL, POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS ALONG AND ASTRIDE THE NIGERIA – CAMEROON BOUNDARY

Abstract

The empirical data for this paper is drawn from the “ethnic minorities” divided along and astride the Cross River borderlands with southern Cameroon. Scholars who have studied the Nigeria – Cameroon Boundary tend to lay more emphasis on the state – centric perspective that continues to operate largely within the framework of the nineteenth century European notions of sovereignty of states and the sanctity of national boundaries. By comparison to the state-centric perspective, the trans-national stance is unconventional and understandably less known to existing scholarly literature and policy-making tradition. Nevertheless, the transnational model has been more responsive to the realities of border regions and has won increasing number of adherents in Europe and America where the tempo of trans-boundary co-operation, planning and development is being felt. It is indicated that even more potently, the cultural bonds, which have emerged to cement peoples in these areas together over the centuries, are too strong to be destroyed by the reality of the relatively new colonial boundary. The sovereignty percolating realities along and astride the borderlands have eventuated into various micro-integration at the grassroots level waiting to be formalised at the state centric level. (Humanities Review: 2001 1(1): 81-87)