How porous borders worsen Nigeria’s security challenges

…ISIS, Lakurawa, and ISWAP exploit ‘open’ borders in northern Nigeria to establish foothold

…We have begun programme to track aliens, FG assures

Nigeria’s territorial integrity is under siege, not by an external army, but by the unchecked influx of undocumented migrants and potential threats through its porous borders.

The country’s border security, particularly in the North, remains weak, allowing individuals from neighboring countries such as Niger, Chad, and other Sahel nations to enter effortlessly. Over the years, these unchecked movements have fueled criminal activities, including banditry, terrorism, and smuggling, further worsening Nigeria’s security crisis.

A nation without borders?

Nigeria shares over 4,000 kilometers of land borders with its neighbors, with vast stretches largely unmanned. Smugglers, human traffickers, and armed groups exploit these weak points to move freely between countries.

Despite being a signatory to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, which allows citizens of member states to travel without visas but with proper identification, the reality is starkly different. Many migrants, often hiding inside trucks loaded with food and livestock, cross into Nigeria unchecked.

Security operatives stationed at border posts appear either complicit or overwhelmed. Truckloads of undocumented migrants routinely pass through checkpoints without scrutiny. In many cases, bribery and corruption play a major role in their unhindered movement. This lax approach has led to the infiltration of extremist elements, worsening Nigeria’s security landscape.

Read also: Nigerians want military to scale up fight against terrorism

Terrorism and crime: A direct consequence

The discovery of an Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) sleeper cell in Osun State recently sent shockwaves across the country. It signaled that terrorist groups, once thought to be confined to the Northeast and recently Northwest, are gradually expanding their reach into the South. Security experts warn that the unchecked influx of migrants from volatile regions in the Sahel is fueling terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping in Nigeria.

A closer look at the composition of various armed groups, including Boko Haram, ISWAP, bandits, and recently discovered Lukarawa reveals a disturbing trend: many of their foot soldiers are non-Nigerians.

These groups leverage the porous borders to recruit fighters, smuggle weapons, and establish operational bases within the country. The result has been a rise in violent attacks across states, from Zamfara to Ondo, leaving thousands dead or displaced.

Despite repeated assurances from the government about fighting insecurity, little has changed in terms of border control. Reports suggest that many security operatives stationed at border posts are either bribed or lack the necessary resources to effectively police Nigeria’s vast borders. Also, inter-agency rivalry and a lack of coordination between security agencies further complicate enforcement.

Akinola Ayobami, an international relations analyst, describes Nigeria’s borders as “vulnerable to illegal crossings, smuggling, and other criminal activity, especially with the states in the North.” He added that these unchecked movements have significantly contributed to the rise in terrorism, banditry, and organised crime

To curb the security threats posed by Nigeria’s porous borders, Ayobami called for urgent reforms.

He noted that the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and other security agencies must be adequately equipped with modern surveillance technology, including drones, biometric databases, and real-time monitoring systems.

“While free movement within West Africa is essential for trade and integration, it must not come at the cost of national security. Stricter enforcement of passport and identification requirements is necessary,” Ayobami said.

According to him, Nigeria needs a transparent and accountable border management system to curb corruption among security operatives who enable illegal migration for financial gain.

“Empowering local communities to report suspicious activities will enhance intelligence gathering, while stronger collaboration between the police, military, customs, and immigration services is essential for a coordinated response to border threats,” he concluded.

Govt not sincere in fight against corruption, insecurity around borders – Dikwa

Khalifa Dikwa, a university don and dean of Borno Elders Forum, revealed that there are over 1,400 illegal routes into Nigeria – 1,316 more than the approved number of border control posts. The 84 approved border controls cover 4,047km, the total length of Nigeria’s land border. Ogun and Adamawa states, for example, have 83 and 80 illegal posts respectively.

In the northeast and northwest, the borders Nigeria shares with Cameroun, Niger and Chad stretch over 1,690, 1,497 and 87 kilometres, respectively.

He said: “The best is to create border communities’ security with the ability to track the terrorist guys who are connecting with the international terrorist organisations or bandit and so on. Use of technology, Nigeria has it, but they are not utilising them; only for a few cases, when a big person is affected, they trace them and arrest them.”

He lamented that corruption has fueled the insecurity bedevilling the whole country because the leaders seem not serious about the claim to fight against terrorists and other criminal elements, which has spurred the proliferation of arms in and out of the country.

“They don’t want to expose their numbers from the same party or from the same business cocoon or from the locality and so on. So, Nigeria has not decided to end insecurity once and for all; it is an industry now; our government is never serious with the claim of fighting corruption, no, not at all, because they ought to have allowed EFCC to carry out its operations without anybody interfering with them.

“But now, the heads of the EFCC and so on, were politically appointed, and sometimes they are sent as attack dogs to rivals and to just humiliate them. You can hear somebody having stolen billions. The court will not be able to finish the trials after 10 years, so we are never serious about the claim that we are fighting corruption in Nigeria. Eventually, they settle down; they will give a peanut and then go with the rest, but they will go after somebody with a few million-naira accusation, and then they will traumatise him. They subject him to media trials and so on,” he said.

Khalifa pointed out that aside porosity of borders which has worsened the multi-sectoral challenges facing the northern states like Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Taraba, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto in the northern part of the country, which have suffered frequent attacks and are located along the borders except Jigawa state, adding the people of the border communities also share the same value and inter-marriages, ancestral heritage, cultures which is complex.

“We are not defining the foreign in terms of when white people come in. They are visitors. They call them visitors. If it is a black person, it is a different scenario. Northern Nigeria, for instance, is an extension of southern Niger. It was in 1884 that the white men sat down in Berlin and then split the same community, speaking the same language, just like Benin Republican, speaking the same language with Badagry and so on.

“So, the same people, same language, same culture, everything to call them alien. Some of them have half of their houses in Niger, the other half is in Nigeria, married to each other and so on. There is no way to separate them and cut them. I think Nigeria needs to strengthen her territorial defence and interface with neighbouring states to curb the menace,” Khalifa pointed out.

Read also: Bandits abduct 22 in fresh Kaduna attacks, residents decry insecurity

ISIS, Lukurawa, others exploit Nigeria due to porous borders

Abubakar M. Kareto, a Public Affairs analyst, noted that insecurity ravaging the country is a result of the porousness of Nigeria’s border systems, which has become fertile ground for terrorist organisations killing, maiming and kidnapping innocent citizens to instill fears in the minds of locals around border areas.

He charged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his security chiefs to come up with a holistic approach that would enhance the security of lives and property in the country.

He said: “The extensive and historically permeable borders of Northern Nigeria have posed a considerable challenge to security within the region. The inadequacy of effective border control has enabled the transit of small arms and light weapons, in addition to the infiltration and exfiltration of terrorist organisations and other criminal entities from neighbouring countries afflicted by terrorism, such as Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali.

“ISIS, Lakurawa, and ISWAP exploit the permeable borders of northern Nigeria to establish their foothold, frequently infiltrating adjacent nations such as Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. They utilise clandestine routes and transnational criminal networks to facilitate the transportation of combatants, armaments, and resources.

“Lakurawa, which originated in the frontier regions between Nigeria and Niger, initially began as armed herders but subsequently transformed into a violent extremist organisation.”

He pointed out that the resultant instability has engendered extensive repercussions, contributing to conflicts, displacement, and an overarching sense of insecurity.

“Addressing this issue necessitates a comprehensive strategy that encompasses the augmentation of border security measures, the strengthening of collaboration with neighbouring nations, and, by extension, the entire Sahel region, as well as initiatives aimed at tackling the underlying causes of conflict and instability within the area,” Kareto said.

Borno is strategic to Nigeria, gateway to Sub-Sahel Africa – Timothy

Timothy Olanrewaju a journalist who covers conflicts and terrorism, recalled that then President Olusegun Obasanjo tried to put some barriers on the borders by planting trees and those trees were meant to be a kind of barricade between Nigeria and some of the neighbouring countries, but unfortunately successive governments and the state governments could not sustain that project.

He revealed that lack of enough security personnel to man the borders has been a major problem, adding that Borno State has one of the largest landmarks in the country, apart from Niger State.

He said: “Yeah, the borders, especially in the northeast and northwest, specifically in Borno State, bordering Cameroon, Niger and the Chad Republic, are basically porous. They allow terrorists to move from different parts of neighbouring countries into our country.”

He noted that terrorism has affected inter-state, regional, and Trans-Sahara trade that the areas were known for over the centuries and decades.

He maintained that the Nigerian military may have become overwhelmed by the cumbersome operations going on all over the place across the country.

“The situation is extremely difficult in the North West because of the Lakurawa terrorist group; when the military takes them on, they cross the borders from Sokoto or from Kebbi to Katsina, which has become a threat to the peace and development of the northwest and part of the central,” he said.

We have begun programme to track aliens – FG

The Federal Government has said that it was very worried by the influx of aliens into the country through the porous borders, but that it has begun a programme to identify illegal foreigners from neighbouring countries.

A high officer in the current administration told BusinessDay that in as much as government did not want to disclose the full details of the programme, but that in a very near future, foreigners discovered to have entered without necessary documents would be delt with appropriately.