The Legal Regime of the Continental Shelf, its Economic Importance and the Vast Natural Resources of a Coastal State

摘要

The fact that the concept of the continental shelf became established in the Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982 is, as a result of the activities which nations have been pursuing in recent decades, to exploit the resources of the seabed and subsoil and the superjacent waters, with their vast, rich reserves of natural resources. This article aims to analyse the legal concept of the continental shelf and its economic importance to a coastal state. It also looks at the African Union position on the law relating to this part of the maritime belt, the International Court of Justice pronouncement on conflicts between coastal states, the limits of the Nigeria continental shelf and the attendant crisis on resource control by the coastal federating units or provincial government.