LAGOS, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian Senate (Higher chamber in the National Assembly) has said it will continue its work on the ratification of the Green Tree Agreement (GTA) despite the full implementation of the terms of the document by the Nigeria federal government.

    According to the Punch report on Tuesday, the Senate said the handover of Bakassi to Cameroon on Aug. 14, would not stop its work on the agreement.

    It also urged the Federal Government to cease further implementation of the agreement until the process of domestication was concluded.

    In a resolution in November last year, it requested President Umaru Yar'Adua to submit the document to the National Assembly for the constitutional process of ratification and domestication.

    Deputy Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba said the Senate Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, States and Local Government would continue its assignment of scrutinizing the agreement for ratification.

    Ndoma-Egba said the report that would be produced by the committee would give the Senate a sense of direction on actions to be taken.

    Nigeria has concluded its handover of the Bakassi peninsula to neighboring Cameroon, completing the implementation of the 2002International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment, after 15 years of dispute over the peninsula that is located on the Gulf of Guinea.

    After a drawn-out legal battle, the ICJ ruled in October 2002 that the Bakassi Peninsula should be given to Cameroon. It based its decision largely on a 1913 treaty between former colonial powers Britain and Germany.

    Cameroon and Nigeria then signed an accord known as the Green Tree Agreement in New York in June 2006 during U.S.-facilitated mediation talks and in the presence of then UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

    The peninsula, which is believed to contain considerable oil and gas reserves as well as rich fishing grounds, has also been the scene of violent attacks in recent months.

    Approximately 50 people have been killed in recent clashes between Cameroonian soldiers and local armed groups opposed to the transfer in the peninsula that spans 1,000 square kilometers.