Strengthening Borderlands Through Collaboration and Innovation
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has emphasized the importance of collaboration among African countries, security agencies, researchers, policymakers, and border communities to create secure, connected, and prosperous borderlands across the continent. This call for unity was made during the opening of the 2026 Annual Meeting of the African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE), co-hosted by the NIS and Lagos State University (LASU) in Lagos.
A New Approach to Border Management
Mrs Kemi Nandap, the Comptroller-General of the NIS, highlighted that Africa’s evolving migration patterns, regional integration, cross-border economic activities, and emerging security threats require a new approach to border management. She stressed that borders should not be seen merely as geographical lines separating sovereign states but as dynamic spaces where families, communities, cultures, and economies interact.
“Borders must be understood not merely as geographical lines separating sovereign states but as dynamic spaces where families remain connected, communities interact, cultures converge, livelihoods are sustained and legitimate trade and movement take place,” she said.
Nandap pointed out that while physical patrols and document inspections remain critical, they are no longer sufficient to tackle increasingly sophisticated transnational threats such as human trafficking, migrant smuggling, identity fraud, organized crime, terrorism, and cyber-enabled threats. These challenges demand intelligence-led operations and stronger cooperation among countries and institutions.
Modernizing Border Security
The NIS has been working on modernizing its border management system. Nigeria became the first African nation to introduce the electronic passport in 2007, followed by enhanced e-passports with stronger biometric and security features. The NIS has also automated passport applications, payments, processing, and identity verification. Other efforts include centralizing passport personalization, participating in the Public Key Directory, and deploying automated border control systems, including e-gates at international airports.
Investments in surveillance and alert systems, command and control capabilities, communications infrastructure, and integrated data platforms have improved situational awareness across the country’s air, land, and maritime borders. However, Nandap cautioned that technology should serve as a tool for strengthening professional border management rather than an end in itself.
The Role of Border Communities
Nandap emphasized that border communities must occupy a central position in border security strategies due to their knowledge of local environments and cross-border relationships. She argued that these communities should not be viewed merely as populations residing at the geographical margins of the state but as essential stakeholders and strategic partners in promoting secure, peaceful, resilient, and prosperous borderlands.
She also stressed the need to maintain a balance between security and regional integration in West Africa, where families, communities, and markets have historically operated across national boundaries. Nigeria remains committed to strengthening partnerships in border technology, biometric identity management, cybersecurity, surveillance, intelligence sharing, capacity building, and research.
Bridging Research, Policy, and Practice
Nandap urged participants to move beyond identifying border challenges to developing practical, sustainable partnerships that would strengthen the relationship between research and policy, technology and people, and security and regional integration. She envisioned a future where borders are increasingly digital, biometric, and intelligence-led but remain human-centered.
“Our ambition is therefore broader than securing Nigeria’s borders. We seek secure, connected and resilient borderlands where communities can prosper, legitimate trade and mobility can flourish, and countries can cooperate in confronting shared threats,” she said.
Perspectives from Lagos State University
Distinguished Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, Vice Chancellor of LASU, echoed Nandap’s sentiments, stating that African borders should no longer be viewed merely as lines separating sovereign territories but as spaces of interaction, exchange, identity, commerce, and shared livelihoods. She noted that the conference was particularly significant as LASU and the NIS were co-hosting the ABORNE meeting for the first time in Nigeria since the network was founded in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, in 2007.
Olatunji-Bello emphasized the need for policy, research, and security to operate together, describing the relationship as critical to effective border governance. “Research needs practice. Practice needs research. And both need policy. That is the triangle within which meaningful border governance must operate,” she said.
Lagos was chosen as the venue for the conference due to its strategic position as a center of commerce, culture, migration, and regional connectivity, particularly along the Lagos-Abidjan Corridor. The university also highlighted its Bachelor of Arts programme in Border and Migration Studies, which reflects the recognition that border issues extend beyond territorial sovereignty to encompass livelihoods, identity, security, development, and human mobility.
Olatunji-Bello urged universities to move beyond documenting borderland realities and produce research that can shape migration and border-management policies. She also called on participants to ensure that the conference produced practical partnerships rather than only academic papers and proceedings.
