Insecurity And Calls For Border Fence In Nigeria: An Appraisal

By Olakunle Osisanya, fdc
olakunleosisanyag@gmail.com

Introduction
At a security conference organized by the Nigerian National Assembly held on Tuesday 3rd of June 2025, the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Christopher Musa made a presentation which highlighted the imperatives of patriotism, good governance, local government autonomy, comprehensive identity database as well as border management with emphasis on fencing Nigeria’s land borders to curb insecurity.

Apparently, due to the frustrations with the never ending Boko Haram insurgency and banditry across parts of Nigeria, the idea of a border fence seemed to have resonated with the public. A short video of the CDS promoting the idea was widely circulated on social media with examples from the Pakistan-Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia-Iraq borders. Thereafter, the proposal has attracted contrasting opinions and the debate remains in the public domain.

Statement of the Problem
To place Nigeria’s security challenges in proper perspective, the country covers an area of 923,768 km2 comprising densely and sparsely populated areas. However, large portions of the hinterland, including national parks and forests are devoid of government presence, policing and basic infrastructure, which is conducive for violent non-state actors.

In a BBC Hausa report of 19th July 2021, the Editor, Aliyu Tanko categorized Nigeria’s security crises as jihadism, herders-farmers clashes, banditry, kidnapping, separatist insurgency and oil militancy. Examples of the reported acts which lead to insecurity include illegal appropriation of territory by hoisting flags, controlling markets, levying taxes, illicit mining of rare, precious and solid minerals.
Others include disruption of schooling, kidnapping of school children and adults for ransom, cultism, enforcement of sit-at-home orders, destruction of farms, livestock rustling, vandalism of public infrastructure like pipelines and power-lines, oil bunkering, drug abuse, smuggling and human trafficking.

Currently, policing in Nigeria is exclusive to the federal government and at a recent presentation at NIPPS, the IG Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun informed that the Nigeria police-citizen ratio stands at 1-650 against the recommended UN 1-460. Furthermore, current Police deployments are skewed in favour of urban areas, with a disproportionate number engaged in VIP protection duties. Thus, Nigeria is faced with myriad of issues that threaten national security.

Objectives
In view of the CDS call for a border fence to address insecurity in Nigeria, this write up intends to briefly look at the history of, and few examples of international borders. It will also review the peculiarities around Nigeria’s land borders from the geographical, political, socio-cultural to economic factors. These will dovetail into an appraisal of the costs of erecting a border fence against the opportunity cost, followed by observations and recommendations.

Historical accounts reveal that the act of fencing settlements is as old as human civilization. Following the realization of the benefits of communal life, the urge for protection became paramount; hence, communities identified perimeters to be reinforced to keep out wild animals and invaders. Examples include the Greek mythology of the Trojan horse and penetrating the walls of the city of Troy, the Great Wall of China to deprive herders north of China from invading farming communities, and the biblical story of the wall of Jericho.
Others are the Berlin wall, which separated Germany during the cold war era, America-Mexico border wall, the Israel-Gaza wall and the Kenya-Somalia wall. Nigerian towns also have a history of defensive walls and gates such as the ‘kofars’ of the north, the Benin city moat and border guards “asobode” in Yoruba land. Thus, the idea of fencing Nigeria’s land borders is nothing unusual.

Peculiarities of Nigeria’s Land Borders
A study of Nigeria’s geography reveals a climate and vegetation which extends northwards from the Atlantic ocean’s Gulf of Guinea, through coastal swamps, rainforests and terminates at the Sahel savanna.

To the west, the 809 km border with Benin republic cuts across the entire vegetation range. To the north, the 1,608 km border with Niger republic runs eastwards, exclusively across the Sahel, terminating at the 85 km border with lake chad in Chad republic.
To the east, the 1,975 km border with Cameroun republic ranges from the coastal swamps, the rainforest up to the Sahel. However, it is affected by the Mandara mountains and Mambila plateau with largely rugged terrain and relatively low temperatures. Thus, Nigeria’s over 4,400 km of land borders consists largely of a terrain devoid of natural physical barriers to prevent easy access and is therefore fairly porous.

Politically, the European partition of Africa was done in total disregard for preexisting ethnic groups, kingdoms and borders. The newly introduced but imaginary colonial lines sliced homogeneous communities, families, farms, and structures, into separate countries, which subjected them to contrasting administrative systems. The arbitrary lines created Nigeria with a British colonial heritage while Nigeria’s 4 neighbouring countries were colonized by Germany and France but later came under exclusive French colonial heritage.
Suddenly, kith and kin at border communities found themselves either as commonwealth citizens or aliens and became entangled in divided loyalty or divided patriotism. The situation was further compounded by the far distances to the administrative capitals and deprivation of basic amenities like schools, hospitals, markets, good roads and public power supply, leading to feelings of marginalization. Thus, differences in colonial heritage and neglect experienced by border communities resulted to divided loyalty which negatively impacted their sense of patriotism, even till date.

In social terms, in-spite of decades of the colonial heritage, the historical, social and cultural bonds of the various indigenous people across the borders prevailed. Examples include regular intermarriages, shared religious and cultural ceremonies and subscribing to the sovereignty of traditional authorities across national boundaries. Even a former Nigerian President once famously announced his preference to spend his retirement in Niger Republic. Thus loyalty to cross border affinities as against national solidarity often remain very strong.
Examples of ethnic groups with clear cross border affinities include the Egun, Yoruba, Batonu (Bariba) along the Benin republic borders. Also, the Zabarma, Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri along the Niger republic borders, while on the Cameroun border, are the Kanuri, Fulani and sundry tribes in Adamawa.

Economically, the historical tran-Saharan trade and trans-Atlantic slave trade were precursors of current formal and informal trade around Nigeria’s borders. Exchange of grains, spices and other foodstuffs, cash crops, livestock, fishery and leather subsists. Further, Nigeria spearheaded ECOWAS and is prominent in the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), to promote African trade and integration. Thus, trading and economic relations across Nigeria’s borders, which extend as far as other west and central African countries remain strong and intact.

Despite the continuation of legitimate trade, the serious economic disparity between Nigeria and her neighbours, as well as the differences in currencies and exchange rates between the Naira and CFA tend to incentivize illegal cross border trade. These include smuggling of contraband especially fuel, small arms and light weapons, smuggling of migrants, narcotics, rare and precious minerals etc. Thus, criminals latched unto the loopholes due to economic disparity between Nigeria and neighbouring countries to promote illegitimate trade and operations across the borders.

Beyond Nigeria’s borders, the advent of climate change and the damage to agricultural productivity across the Sahel region of Africa resulted to competition for diminishing resources and conflicts, which were worsened by proliferation of illegal arms from Libya. To escape the environmental devastation, large civilian and militia populations migrated southwards, choosing Nigeria due to perceived liberal disposition and ethno-religious affinities shared. Sadly, the entry and integration of these foreigners was grossly mismanaged by relevant political, tribal and religious leaders in Nigeria. Thus, many of the migrants who were experienced militia became a thorn in the flesh of citizens as well as ready recruits for criminality in Nigeria.

On border security management, the agencies that are mandatory at recognized land border control posts include the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Port Health Services and the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service, complemented by others. According to the NIS Annual Report, 2019, there are 114 land border control posts and 72 border patrol bases; however, there are over 1000 illegal routes.

The average distance between each control post is therefore approximately 39 km of mostly ungoverned spaces. About 500 border security agents holding hands in a straight line would be required to cover just one km. Therefore, the current staff strengths, technology and logistics fall very short. Also, inter-agency rivalry is rife. Thus, the capacity for effective border security management of Nigeria’s land border is compromised by inadequate manpower, logistics and poor inter-agency collaboration.

Cost Implications of Erecting Border Fence around Nigeria
The ongoing Lagos-Calabar highway was projected to cost N4b per km by the Hon Minister of Works, Engr David Umahi. Adopting similar template, the possible cost of site preparations, compensations, construction and finishing of a solid border fence around Nigeria over a distance of 4,400 km would be estimated at over 17 trillion naira, which may last several years to completion.

Having introduced the CDS call for a border fence, the statement of the problem and examined the peculiarities surrounding Nigeria’s borders and other areas, I wish to conclude with the following observations and recommendations towards enhanced national security of Nigeria.

Observations
a)In-spite of some reported acts of criminality, normal human activities still dominate Nigeria’s border areas. Therefore, in the absence of empirical evidence, a correlation between fencing the borders and ending insecurity in Nigeria has not been established;
b)Given the projected cost of N17tn, coupled with the state of the economy, the construction of a border fence might prove too expensive and time consuming for government and is unlikely to attract private sector participation;
c)A border fence will further divide border communities and may instigate socio-cultural and diplomatic resentment, thereby making such fence prone to vandalism;
d)Based on the deductions at the end of some of the preceding paragraphs, it is doubtful that a border fence would make any significant difference in ending insecurity in Nigeria.

Recommendations
In addition to the increased support of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration to the Armed Forces of Nigeria, the following recommendations are more likely to checkmate insecurity in Nigeria, especially around the border areas, than the erection of a border fence:
i.The allocation of more funds for improved socio-economic infrastructure at border communities should be prioritized;
ii.Increased recruitment, human capital development, enhanced technology, additional logistics for the mandatory border agencies along with capacity building for better collaboration;
iii.Approval of realistic remunerations to border security officers which should be commensurate with the risks faced at the borders and indicative of government’s commitment to combating economic sabotage and other common crimes around the borders;
iv.Possible review or decentralization of the current border security architecture in line with emerging best practices. For instance, the USA has separated Customs and Border Protection(CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol among others.
v.Increased government presence in the hinterlands through provision of basic amenities at rural settlements near identified ungoverned spaces, to discourage rural-urban migration.
vi.Decentralization of policing to all jurisdictions and levels of governance in Nigeria, to be followed by significant recruitment of new staff and human capacity development;
vii.Reform and decentralization of the National Parks Service to all levels of government in Nigeria, to be followed by increased budgetary allocation for procurement, staff recruitment, training and deployment of forests and park Rangers.