A Call for Transformation in Border Communities
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, has called for a fundamental shift in how the government approaches border management. He emphasizes the need to transform border communities from neglected zones into centers of opportunity. According to him, these communities should be viewed as partners to be invested in rather than problems to be managed. This change, he argues, would lead to greater national security and economic benefits.
“We need to stop treating border communities like problems to be managed and start treating them like partners to be invested in. Every young person that we employ in a legitimate venture is someone we have kept out of the reach of traffickers. Prevention is cheaper than enforcement, and it is more humane,” Adeniyi stated during a recent event.
His comments were made at the Customs Officers’ Wives Association Sustainability and Green Borders Summit held in Abuja. The summit highlighted the importance of addressing the challenges faced by border regions through eco-enterprises, youth employment, and targeted infrastructure. Adeniyi noted that genuine empowerment offers a sustainable alternative to the cycle of poverty, smuggling, and insecurity often associated with these areas.
He called for massive and direct investment in Nigeria’s border communities to promote sustainability and curb cross-border crimes. “Talking about green borders” must now give way to action and funding that reaches people on the ground, according to Adeniyi. He emphasized that transforming frontier communities requires more than policy rhetoric and workshops but real financial commitment to empower women, youth, and small eco-enterprises.
Adeniyi outlined three key steps: moving from talking about green borders to actually building them, ensuring heavy funding that reaches those on the ground, and recognizing the potential of border communities as partners in creating a secure and sustainable economy.
Empowering Communities Through Sustainability
Adeniyi, who also chairs the World Customs Organisation Council, has repeatedly urged Nigeria and its partners to prioritize eco-friendly border management. He described this approach as central to both national security and economic development. The Nigeria Customs Service is aligning its modernization agenda with global sustainability goals, ensuring that trade facilitation efforts contribute to environmental protection and local empowerment.
“Sustainability is now part of border security. When we empower communities to thrive legally and sustainably, we make smuggling unattractive,” he said. Adeniyi unveiled plans to finance a national Green Border Project aimed at promoting sustainability, empowering border communities, and reducing the impact of climate change across Nigeria’s frontiers.
“When you drive through our border towns, what do you see? Mountains of waste, young people with no opportunities, communities left behind,” he lamented. Adeniyi pointed out that smugglers find recruits not because people are criminals, but because survival looks different when you live on the edge of environmental collapse.
A New Initiative for Sustainable Growth
The Green Customs initiative has become a core component of the service’s strategic plan, with specific programs to support women-led recycling and green enterprise initiatives in border areas. “Green Customs is not a side project; it’s a priority,” Adeniyi said. He mentioned partnerships with COWA to fund sustainability projects that empower women and youth in border communities.
Earlier in her address, COWA President, Kikelomo Adeniyi, unveiled the COWA Sustainability and Innovation Centre, a flagship project under the Green Borders Initiative. Designed to train and empower border women and youth in solar energy, waste recycling, and green enterprise, the center aims to foster sustainable development.
“Our border communities, from Jibia in Katsina to Idiroko in Ogun, are the forgotten corridors of our development agenda,” Mrs. Adeniyi said. She highlighted that over 70 per cent of these communities lack clean water, renewable energy, or sanitation facilities.
The center will host various facilities, including a Green Skills Academy, an Innovation and Research Lab, a Policy and Leadership Institute, and a Green Enterprise Hub for small-scale recycling, eco-fashion, and renewable energy projects. “This is not just about planting trees. It’s about planting hope, growing opportunities, and cultivating responsibility,” she explained.
Addressing Challenges in Border Regions
The initiative comes amid worsening conditions in Nigeria’s border regions. Recent findings from a nationwide Green Barrack Audit by COWA show that seven in ten border communities lack access to clean water and electricity, while deforestation and illegal trade continue to undermine national security.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria loses an estimated 350,000 hectares of forest annually, fueling desertification and displacing thousands of people in northern border zones. Similarly, the UNDP estimates that women and youth make up over 65 per cent of the population in these areas, yet remain largely excluded from economic opportunities.
COWA’s Green Borders Initiative aims to reverse these trends by promoting green jobs, circular economy enterprises, and cross-border environmental cooperation. The COWA president invited the Federal Ministries of Environment, Women Affairs, Trade, and Investment, as well as corporate Nigeria and international donors, to integrate the initiative into their sustainability frameworks.
“Sustainability is good business. Companies investing in green growth experience stronger community trust, higher brand equity, and long-term competitiveness,” she said. The association will soon embark on a nationwide partnership drive to mobilize funds and expertise for the project, emphasizing the role of Nigeria’s private sector in making the initiative a reality.
“We will be knocking on the doors of corporate Nigeria, international partners, and philanthropies. Together, we can make sustainability not just a theme, but a national development imperative,” the statement concluded.
