How Nigeria’s porous border contributes to insecurity

The country’s ongoing security dilemma is exacerbated by the Federal Government’s incapacity to protect and grow Nigeria’s border communities. REPORTS furucinovel

According to investigations, the country is currently dealing with insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, and farmer-herder violence as a result of the aftermath from the Libyan crisis and the entrance of foreign mercenaries.

This has something to do with why former President Muhammadu Buhari blocked land borders in 2019 to try and stop the influx of foreign fighters, weapons smugglers, drug dealers, and other illegal goods into Nigeria.

The Buhari-led administration gave Muhammad Babandede, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), instructions to guard the border against foreign invaders in an attempt to lessen the entry of foreign mercenaries.

Nevertheless, the Nigerian government’s attempts have not stopped criminal groups from neighboring nations from infiltrating the nation, according to furucinovel. Gun smuggling has also persisted.

On February 12, Nigeria’s former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, expressed concern over the country’s worsening security conditions and pointed out that one major contributing cause to the country’s security crisis is its porous borders.

Gowon emphasized the vital importance of border security and the need to fortify border security measures in order to thwart foreign threats and discourage criminal groups from infiltrating neighboring countries.

“Our borders are very porous,” he declared. Consider the distance between the North West and the North East—nearly a thousand kilometers. Some of the people committing these horrible crimes are from across the border.

“We need to recognize these components and address them. In order to make sure that our borders are adequately guarded in the event of an emergency, I believe that we should have additional security personnel on duty and suitable infrastructure.

Border as a means of criminal escape

Research has indicated that almost all terrorists and other criminal elements consider some sort of escape route either prior to or just after committing a crime.

The way Nigeria’s borders are currently set up around the nation has been encouraging criminals to flee after committing horrible atrocities.

The primary suspect in the May 2022 murder of Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a 200-level student at Shehu Shagari College of Education, fled to the Republic of Niger following the incident, according to information obtained by furucinovel.

The individual whose face was shown in the widely shared video of Deborah’s brutal murder was thought by the police to be a foreigner from a nearby nation.

One of the primary obstacles facing the Nigeria Police in their continuous battle against insecurity in the country is maintaining the security of border communities, a security source who wished to remain anonymous told furucinovel on Saturday.

“This issue of not having secured borders is one of the challenges that the police face,” he stated. When a terrorist is listed as sought, you almost never see them in Nigeria again.

This is a significant problem, primarily in the nation’s north. For example, the infamous Benue gang leader Terwase Akwaza, well known as Gana, fled the nation years before he was slain in 2020 after being listed as sought.

“The terrorist and his group were active in Taraba State and Benue. We just found out after his death that he frequently flees to Cameroon when he is being pursued by security personnel.

He used to travel through Taraba State’s Kurmi Local Government with other gang members in order to flee to Cameroon, where they were unknown. Therefore, maintaining border security is crucial to the nation’s continuous war against insurgency.

“The same thing still occurs if you travel to Kastina and several other northern states. Suspects are still making their way into Niger across the border. They will travel there and act like they are citizens because some of them even speak Nigerien languages.

Remember that when terrorists or other criminal elements are sought for in neighboring countries, they typically manage to sneak away and end up in Nigeria as well.

The Federal Government “should declare war on the smuggling of firearms into the country,” according to security expert Ben Ijeoche, who also spoke with furucinovel on Saturday.

Ben reports that although the government says that the borders are blocked, Boko Haram members and robbers continue to smuggle weapons into Nigeria. Do they employ magic there?

“I believe that these border issues should be declared a war by the government.” In many ways, border tightening will stop the escalating security issue.

“You can’t categorically say that the bandits and terrorists are not Nigerians but when you hear people saying that the criminals are foreigners, there are elements of truth there,” Ben said to the assertion that the attackers wreaking havoc in the nation are not Nigerians.

“At least a hundred of these guys are killed every year, yet very few people are searching for their missing sons. Do they not have any parents or other family members, then? The possibility that there are foreign criminals residing among us cannot be ruled out.

The Nigerian Immigration Service, meanwhile, stated to furucinovel on Saturday that it is “policing the entire stretch of our land and coastal borders, while also doing its best in securing our approved borders.”

Controller Tony Akuneme, Special Assistant to the Comptroller General, told the Daily Post that “the issue is more challenging because we have our brothers on both sides of most border communities, so the contiguity as a result of similar cultures and religion makes it even more intriguing” in response to a question about the difficulties in securing borders.

Akuneme claims that “in order to support other security agencies that form the Joint Task Forces aiding in the security of the nation, the NIS is deploying more men and materials towards the border areas.”

With the Minister of Interior’s assistance, we are also implementing technologies right now to guarantee real-time surveillance of border route activity from our command and control center in Abuja.

“All we need is more inspiration from the federal government and the support of Nigerians.”