On August 14, 2008, Nigeria officially handed over the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon, complying with a 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling. The transfer, originally agreed upon two years earlier, had been delayed due to violence and political disputes, with over 50 people killed in border clashes.
There were serious security concerns, including the presence of armed groups in Bakassi. Meanwhile, during the handover ceremony, then Nigerian Justice Minister, Michael Aondoakaa, described the handover as a "painful but important task." The planned flag-exchange ceremony in a town in Bakassi was relocated to Calabar due to heightened security risks.
Afterward, Cameroon was confronted by the challenge of stabilizing the region before exploiting its offshore oil reserves. Consequently, Nigeria and Cameroon, who were previously on the brink of war over Bakassi, agreed to cooperate on oil exploration, which would help Cameroon's declining oil production at that time.
The settlement process began during the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo but the actual handover was done by then President Musa Yar'Adua's government in 2008 having decided to obey the court judgment.
Other key events on this day
1. Multiple suicide bombings killed about 796 people in Qahtaniya, Iraq - 2007
2. U.N. cease fire took effect in Lebanon - 2006
3. 14th Olympic games closed at London, Great Britain - 1948
4. China declared war on Germany and Austria at start of WW I - 1917
5. Blackout hit Northeast United States, affecting at least 50 million people - 2003
6. Japan's surrender made public - 1945
7. Michael Jackson took control of the Beatles' publishing rights - 1985
8. The First Youth Olympics began in Singapore, with age limit - 2010
9. Abraham Lincoln received the first group of African Americans to confer with a US president - 1862
10. British transport, Royal Edward, sank by German U boat killed 1000 people - 1915
11. US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued the joint declaration that later became known as the Atlantic Charter - 1941
12. President P. W. Botha of South Africa resigned - 1989
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