College of Leadership and Development Studies

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The Borderless-Border and Internal Security Challenges in Nigeria
(International Journal of Political Science Volume 3, Issue 3, 2017, 2017) Osimen Goddy U.; Anegbode E. John; Akande Clement. A,; Oyewole Oyindamola O.
The international border between Nigeria and her neighboring countries is roughly 4745sq.km. The major border countries with Nigeria are Cameroon (1,690 kilometers) in the east, Niger (1,497 kilometers) in the north, Benin (773 kilometers) in the west, and Chad (87 kilometers) in the north-east. Nigeria also shares maritime boundaries with Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principle. The current border corresponds to the inter-colonial border between British and French territories that was set up in 1889. Due to the fact that between these countries hardly any natural boundaries exist, in some parts its exact demarcation remains unclear. The border region includes a large surface of lagoon- and marshlands in the Ouémé valley, which have traditionally been used as transport and trade routes and which are very difficult to control and monitor by migration and customs authorities. This coupled with the challenges facing African states to manage their borders are compounded by globalization that is tearing down traditional borders through advancement in technology and transformation of international relations. At the moment crimes are committed without crossing borders and huge amounts of goods are sold through cyberspace. The problem of security as a result of these borderless-borders in Nigeria has become one of the most intractable challenges facing the country today. In recent time, the security challenges in Nigeria and its border crime are alarming, especially, the activities of the terrorist group known as ‘’Boko Haram’’ in which lives and property are no longer secure. There are many speculations that the groups may have found their way through our porous borders. Therefore, the study probes into the nature of Nigeria borders using analytical framework of assessment in the emerging trans-border crimes, the causes and sources of insecurity of lives and property in Nigeria. The paper then revealed that the major criminal activities in Nigeria borders are smuggling of contraband goods and illegal immigrants, trafficking in weapons and human parts, drug trafficking, vehicle crime, trafficking of illegally exploited natural resources, including the illicit trade in timber, oil and diamond among others. The paper then suggests that much of the conventional wisdom regarding how best to address Nigeria border crime and security is not only enacting a law but also creating proper national security awareness, involvement of new stakeholders in the security sector and strong institutional framework to checkmate the activities of trans- border crime.
Border Security Management and ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement in West Africa
(Canadian Social Science Vol. 18, No. 1,, 2022) Agbebaku Philip E.; Osimen Goddy U.
Prior to the enactment of the ECOWAS Protocol on free movement, people move from one location to another, there was little or no regards for the artificial borders created by the colonial powers. The vision of the ECOWAS is to create a borderless region where the population will have access to the abundant resources and, able to exploit same through the creation of opportunities under a sustainable environment. Nevertheless, the unrestricted free movement of people in the sub-region resulted to situation of tension among citizens of the receiving country and migrants especially in places where migrants dominate trade and labour. The regimes that are rather weak can become destabilized under such tensions thereby resulting to free flow of criminalities. The challenges of the Protocol have not helped the security landscape of the sub-region even though ECOWAS prides itself as the first region in Africa with the free movement initiative, the Protocol is poorly implemented constituting more security concern than boosting regional trade and economic development. Despite these challenges and threats posed by border insecurity, there is a lack of a common approach in terms of policy formulation, especially from the direction of the government. Therefore, it is on this note the paper seeks to examine these overlapping issues and hold attempts to provide a possible solution in resolving them. Data were obtained using secondary sources and the data were analyzed qualitatively. The paper observed that the prospect of achieving effective border security was truncated due to unrestricted free movement of people and improper implementation of ECOWAS protocol in the sub-region. This uncontrolled and unmanaged border has resulted to infiltration of terrorists/insurgency, loss of government revenue, smuggling or trafficking of illegal goods among others. The paper further revealed that the issue of corruption, poor technological gadgets, and porous nature of the borders among others serve as strong challenge to effective border management in the region. Therefore called for a Paradigm Shift in achieving effective border management to include adequate provision of funds, use of modern technological gadgets, adequate training of security personnel, strengthening of Multinational Joint Task Force among others.

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