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Nigeria gave up its claim to the disputed Bakassi Peninsula on Aug. 14. Despite the concession, Nigeria will maintain a controlling stake in oil and natural gas in the region.

Nigeria’s government ceded the Bakassi Peninsula to its neighbor Cameroon on Aug. 14 after a drawn-out legal battle. Nigeria’s decision to recognize a 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on the disputed region after years of delay comes as a surprise to the many who doubted Nigeria’s willingness to comply. But negotiations to create a joint development zone to explore and develop the peninsula’s oil and natural gas fields mean Nigeria will continue to have control of the area’s resources.

The disagreement over Bakassi dates back to colonial times, when both Germany and the United Kingdom claimed the territory. In 1913, the colonial powers forged a treaty on the issue, which Nigeria contested after gaining its independence. Throughout the 1990s, the controversy heated up as militant groups fought over possession of the peninsula, with Cameroon eventually calling on the international community for arbitration. In 2002, the ICJ invoked the 1913 treaty in granting the land to Cameroon and set a 2004 deadline for Nigeria to hand over control.

In 2004, Nigeria began ceding the northern part of the peninsula, but hesitated to relinquish the southern part for fear of losing maritime rights to potentially oil-rich waters. Abuja cited the 20,000 fishermen living on the southern part of the peninsula as a reason to maintain its claim, while secretly supporting rebel groups that staged sporadic attacks on Cameroonian forces patrolling the area. As an extended deadline of 2008 approached, these assaults increased, and it appeared Nigeria was preparing to delay the handover yet again. Or so Stratfor thought.