Porosity of Nigeria’s borders and insecurity

The porosity of Nigeria’s borders has become a cog in the wheel of the fight against insecurity in the nation. With the size of 923,768 square kilometres, 910,768 sq km on land and 13,000 sq km in water, a recent study reported that there are 1,400 illegal, uncontrolled and unregulated routes into Nigeria, as against the 84 controlled entry points. This makes it easy for all manner of goods including weapons and illicit drugs to be smuggled into Nigeria, unregulated just as all manner of persons including criminals sneak into Nigeria uncontrolled.

However, the agencies saddled with the responsibility of controlling the movement of goods and persons across the borders, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) are grossly lacking the capacity to efficiently man the borders. The insufficient human and material resources, as well as the use of old techniques, have remained militating factors in border control and management. Therefore, there is need to increase the number of personnel of the NCS and NIS. There is also a need for adequate training and retraining to build their capacity, especially in the area of modern techniques of border control and management. The government also needs to improve their welfare through sufficient remuneration, special housing scheme, good health care facilities and others. Equipment and machinery also need to be provided.

Another aspect of border control and management is the involvement of the border communities. The communities at the borders are suffering from long time neglect from state and federal governments. This resulted in the dearth of infrastructures such as roads, electricity, health care facilities, schools and water supply. This development escalated youth unemployment and therefore restiveness. A situation which has made them ready tools for smugglers and other transborder criminals. In essence, youths in border communities take to smuggling as a means of livelihood. The government should consider developing those communities, provide alternative means of livelihood to the youths and engage in vigorous orientation and sensitisation programmes to enlighten them on the dangers of trans-border crimes. This can be achieved through the Border Communities Development Commission.

To successfully stop the plethora of security issues bedeviling the Nigerian nation, the government must have full control of its borders.

Usman Aliyu Elnafaty, Bauchi