NIGERIA’S avowal to secure its citizens and stem the tide of the novel coronavirus pandemic by keeping its land borders shut requires re-evaluation. Officially, the Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) regime shut the borders in August 2019, citing cross-border smuggling and gun-running. Unofficially, rice, frozen poultry products, vehicles and high calibre weapons are still finding their way into the hinterland through the porous borders, provoking concerns about the effectiveness of the measure. The Buhari regime ought to take a bird’s eye view of its border patrol strategy.
Not only that there is currently a steady inflow of prohibited items into the country, the authorities are now contending with the cross-border movement of Fulani herdsmen from other West African countries into its territory. With COVID-19 being transmitted through by travellers from one country to another, this amplifies the fear that the itinerant herders might soon become veritable agents of community transmission.
Under this uncertainty, there is a noticeable resurgence of banditry, especially in states near the land borders. During an afternoon invasion at the beginning of April, bandits wreaked havoc in Dangara in the Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State. Survivors recounted that the well-armed invaders came in about 200 motorcycles, carrying at least three persons on each bike. They left 22 dead, injured 20, stole food, rustled cattle and burnt down some shops. Plainly, the effect of weapons in the wrong hands is devastating.
A few days after the Sokoto incursion, killer-bandits stormed Hukke and Kyle Borough villages of Irigwe in Bassa LGA of Plateau State, killing 10 persons. The incident took place over three days, says the lawmaker representing Plateau North Senatorial District, Istifanus Gyang. Puzzlingly, the Operation Safe Haven security outfit was missing in action. This has been the bloody pattern of killings for more than a decade on the Plateau, fuelled essentially by itinerant and armed herdsmen who roam the country purportedly in search of fodder for their livestock. An independent estimate by a Plateau lawmaker Dachung Bagos put the death toll at 500 in the 10 years to 2020.
In Kaduna State, gunmen wiped out 38 persons in Fadan Karshi and Nandu villages in Sanga LGA in simultaneous attacks recently, said Sanga council chairman, Emmanuel Adamu. Just in March, bandits murdered 14 persons in Kajuru LGA of the state. In the same month, the invaders killed 51 villagers and destroyed houses in Karewa, Igabi LGA. The massacre prompted an apology from the governor, Nasir el-Rufai for his administration’s inability to protect the people. In the past few years, cross-border bandits have wasted lives in Katsina, Zamfara, and Adamawa and Kebbi states.
At the same time, kidnapping has yet to abate. After collecting a ransom of N5.5 million from his medical doctor father in Bauchi State, kidnappers murdered his 15-year-old son last weekend. In a Niger State forest last weekend, the Operation Whirl Stroke team rescued seven victims of kidnapping after an encounter with bandits.
The case of the foreign Fulani herders is bizarre because, over time, they seem to have found a home in Nigeria. Despite their brazen atrocities, the political establishment in the North has often argued blindly for their accommodation among their Nigerian kinsmen spread across several states. This is wrong and dangerous. There cannot be any national security without effective border security. With COVID-19 rearing its deadly fangs in Katsina, Kano, Kaduna and Niger states, the peril of such sentimental posturing is becoming increasingly clear.
International relations experts advocate that a country is rated by the way it protects its borders from intruders. From the foregoing, it is plain that Nigeria is weak. Perennially, it is at the mercy of gunrunning syndicates, smugglers and pastoral herdsmen. The Buhari regime needs to re-strategise quickly on the issue of security in border communities.
In recognition that the country’s 4,047 kilometre long-land borders present a daunting task for the security agencies, the Federal Government, in 1983, established the Border Patrol Unit in the Nigeria Immigration Service. But the current infiltration by herdsmen, influx of weapons and the 11-year long Boko Haram jihad indicate strongly that the BPU has failed.
It is time to re-jig our national patrol strategy. With just a workforce of 22,300 in 2014, the NIS staff strength might need to be re-examined. This is felt in that though only 84 border post crossings are legally approved, the NIS calculated that there were 1,400 illegal crossings into Nigeria as of 2014. In Adamawa State, there are five legal crossings as against the 80 illegal crossings into the state. In Ogun, where smuggled rice, foods and vehicles are prevalent, there are 83 of such posts. This repeats itself in other states contiguous to the country’s international borders.
A holistic, innovative approach to achieving operational control of the border is, therefore, sorely needed now. The Buhari regime ought to review last year’s border closure to guarantee its effectiveness against smugglers and Fulani herdsmen incursions into the country, lest their uncontrolled activities instigate an uncontrollable spike in COVID-19 infections. For the NIS, it needs to take a critical look at its Border Management Strategy (2019-2023), updating it comprehensively to tackle the emerging challenges.
The allocation of resources, manpower and material, should be based on detailed threats and risk assessments of the borders. Rapid border intervention teams, surveillance systems, radar, satellite and helicopters should be deployed. In the United States, electronic sensors are placed at strategic locations along the nearly 6,000 miles of Mexican and Canadian international land borders and over 2,000 miles of coastal waters surrounding the Florida Peninsula and the island of Puerto Rico to detect people or vehicles entering the country illegally. Video monitors and night vision scopes are also used to detect illegal entries.
The Federal Government must strive to maximise the available resources and apply appropriate prosecutorial pressure and punishment in order to discourage illegal entry into the country.
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