Theoretical Perspectives on Nigeria’s Enforcement of the International Court of Justice’s Verdict Over Bakassi Peninsula

Abstract

Various theoretical explanations have been advanced with respect to why Nigeria ceded Bakassi peninsula to Cameroun after initial rejection of the verdict passed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 10th October, 2002. The different arguments over the national interests that informed the ceding of the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon, found expressions in the democratic-state theory, consequence theory, economic-aid theory, Deterrence theory, and the regime-type theory. Without prejudice to the postulations of the various theories, it is argued that though the identified variables all played out in Nigeria’s enforcement of the international court of Justice’s verdict, it seems to have been guided more by the consequence and the conspiracy theories.