Border Fencing: A National Security Emergency

The conversation around border security has not attracted the attention it deserves, given the spate of insecurity in the country. There have been arguments that the influx of foreigners is responsible for the rise in insecurity, especially in cases of banditry and kidnappings that have assumed a dangerous dimension across the country in recent times.

It has been argued in some quarters that banditry is alien to us as a people. This position is evident in the pictures and videos of bandit kingpins, where their identities appear like those from some of the countries sharing borders with Nigeria.

This newspaper agrees with this hypothesis because of the porous nature of our borders, especially in the northern parts of the country. For example, five of the seven states in the North-West share borders with the Niger Republic, which is largely regarded as a hotbed for extremist groups and ideologies. The porousness of our borders along this axis has been well documented, but little effort has been made to address the challenge.

The most recent call to address this challenge was in 2025, when General Christopher Musa, as Chief of Defence Staff, called for fencing of our borders as a step towards addressing the security challenges in the country.

General Musa cited the example of Pakistan fencing its 2,640-kilometre border with Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia fencing its 1,500-kilometre border with Iraq, and it indeed curbed insecurity in those countries tremendously. He also painted a grim picture with the realisation that Nigeria has a 1,608-kilometre border with the Niger Republic and 1,975-kilometre borders with Cameroon, as well as other Francophone countries around Nigeria.

This stark reality didn’t receive commensurate action at the time the Sahel region was heating up with the activities of non-state actors, and it could be argued that the bulk of the security challenges in the country can be traced to our porous borders.

We hold the position that the issue of border security should take centre stage in the efforts to address the security challenges in the country.

The argument around the cost of effectively fencing our borders with our Francophone neighbours pales into insignificance when compared with the effect of insecurity on our socioeconomic lives as a country. We need to have a secure country before we can talk about sustainable growth and development.

This is on the premise that no country can experience progress without security, and a reason why the country must begin to look at the issue of fencing our borders as a step towards addressing the security challenges in the country.

We also believe that it is not an impossible task. It could be achieved in phases and might take time, but it is better than the lack of action in this regard over the years. When a government cannot control who or what enters and exits its territory, it greatly hinders national security efforts and it would constantly strain the country’s defence capabilities.

This anomaly is present in Nigeria and is a reason why the insurgency in the North-East has refused to abate. The Nigeria-Chad border has been identified as the entry and exit point for the Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists, and is also responsible for the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

According to sources, the Nigeria-Chad border is about 85 kilometres, and there is no official record that indicates that any portion within the 85-kilometre radius is fenced. What we have in place are random checkpoints at designated official entry points that have been largely dismantled as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency. The implication is that the country remains at the mercy of the insurgents, and the security agencies will struggle with security threats, not just in the North-East, but also in other parts of the country, as we have witnessed in recent times.

One question that must be asked is: where do the criminal elements get their arms and how they are smuggled into the country? The answer is obviously through our borders. This is why border security should be an important component of our national security strategy. It is our position that the government must intensify its efforts in this regard by declaring border security a national emergency. This should be the foundation of our national security strategy.

It is imperative that this is carried out with single-minded urgency. The situation in the country today made unbearable by non-state actors from across the borders is decisively unacceptable.