A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Monday has ordered the transfer of Soku oil field from Bayelsa State to Rivers State.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, ordered the National Boundary Commission to rectify the error in its 11th edition of the Administrative Map produced by the NBC in 2002. The map stated San Bartholomew River as the boundary between the two states, instead of River Santa Barbara.

He also ordered the National Boundary Commission to produce the 12th edition of the Administrative Map restoring River Santa Barbara as the inter-state boundary between Rivers and Bayelsa as it was when Bayelsa State was carved from Rivers State in 1996.

The NBC had promised to rectify the error in a letter dated July 3, 2002 in response to a complaint made by the Rivers State Government.

The inability of the NBC to rectify the error made the Rivers State Government to file a suit against the Attorney-General of Bayelsa State and the Attorney-General of the Federation before the Supreme Court in 2009. The Supreme Court in 2012 ruled in favour of Rivers State and ordered the rectification of the error.

The Rivers State Government had in August 2019 instituted a suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja solely against the NBC, seeking an order of mandamus compelling it to correct its error.

He stated that the commission was duty-bound to obey the July 10, 2012 judgment of the Supreme Court which had affirmed River Santa Barbara as the boundary between the states, by immediately correcting its self-admitted error of designating River San Bartholomew as the boundary. Justice Ekwo then directed relevant statutory bodies especially, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission and the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation  to immediately recompute the amount of oil revenue accruable to Rivers State with the transfer of the Soku oil field to it.