Our borders are as dangerous as ever. They need better protection
If there is one area that President Muhammadu Buhari must pay serious attention to, it is our borders. There is hardly any criminal act and violence in Nigeria that could not be remotely traced to the relative ease with which armed gangs enter and exit through many of our 149 borders. Smuggling of contraband goods, arms and human trafficking, mercenary activities directly linked to religious violence, are some of the vices attributable to these porous borders.
So worrisome has the situation become for our national security that a senior official of the Nigerian Immigration Services recently lamented that “the influx of religious extremists from the Maghreb into northern Nigeria and the consequent expansion of religious fundamentalism may not abate for sometime unless a concerted attention is paid to the nation’s poorly-policed borders.”
It is noteworthy that a Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) comprising Chadian, Nigerian and Nigerien troops, was established as far back as 1998 to fight transnational crimes, especially small arms traffic crossing their common borders. But with the emergence of Boko Haram, its mandate has been expanded to include counter-terrorism yet the spectre of the security threats posed by the nation’s porous and poorly-policed borders persists.
Without exception, all our borders are loosely patrolled, if at all, while illegal movement of people and goods flow almost freely on a daily basis. In some of these areas, the contiguous nature of the border sometimes presents its own challenges. It is also a well-known fact that the Boko Haram sect just like its Maitatsine cousin of the 1980s find ready adherents from within the territories of our neighbours. Most of these mercenaries, because they have no stake in our country, quite naturally seem to be more violent and ready to exert maximum collateral damage whenever they strike.
However, the problem is not restricted to the North. In the south western border areas, especially the Seme-Badagry-Idiroko axis, smuggling activities have continued unabated thereby posing serious threats to the nation’s economy. The textile industry for instance is a major casualty as virtually all the leading local textile mills have been shut down since their products could not compete with imported but cheaply priced wax and print materials brought through the borders.
This, according to officials of the National Union of Textiles, Garment, and Tailoring Workers, has led to the loss of some 100,000 jobs. Apart from textile materials, assorted contraband goods also flood the nation’s markets from across the borders. Given the foregoing scenario, there is an urgent need to establish a special border patrol unit that will be well equipped with modern high-tech surveillance gear.
We are not oblivious to the existence of the Immigration and Customs Services at the border posts. However, given the fact that these existing agencies have proved either incompetent, handicapped, corrupt or seriously compromised in the discharge of their duties, the option should be to create a fresh, vibrant force with specific mandate to clear the mess and where necessary use force to confront smugglers and checkmate the influx of religious fundamentalists into the country.
There is also need for a thorough probe of the present border security outfits, namely the Immigration and Custom, with a view to establishing the extent of their collusion and collaboration with criminal elements at the border towns. Nigeria should meanwhile initiate a cause of action to properly demarcate the nation’s borders through the setting up of an ECOWAS Special Commission. There should also be regular joint-border patrol with neighbouring countries.
When the boundaries are clearly identified and delineated it would be a lot easier to monitor them. Nigeria’s borders remain the easiest crossing points in the world today. We must put an end to such emblem of shame.
