Porous borders, illegal migration, arms proliferations threaten Nigeria’s security

The extremely porous nature of the country’s borders, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, illegal migration as well as bad governance are combining with several other factors to undermine the nation’s security, Director General of the Nigeria Army Resource Centre, Major General Johnny Hamakin, has said.

He said the porous nature of the borders has precipitated several other crimes, pointing out that unless the borders are adequately policed, it will continue to undermine efforts geared towards addressing other national security threats

He spoke at a Think Tank conference on policing the federation organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS). He identified other threats to national security in the country as Boko Haram, economic instability, crude oil theft and illegal oil bunkering.

Others are proliferation of small arms and light weapons, kidnapping, illegal migration because of the inability of security forces to effectively Police the borders.

He said: “Nigeria’s extreme porous borders are a major cause of national security threat and may remain so for some time. This is because these borders both land and marine apart from being vast, are inadequately policed.

“The porous nature of the borders has precipitated other crimes such as transnational crimes. Unless these borders are adequately policed, it will continue to undermine all efforts geared towards addressing other national security threats such as transnational crimes and small arms and light weapons proliferation.”

While speaking on the nature of governance and its contribution to national security, the Army General said “the primary concern of any government from the social liberal point of view is to guarantee the wellbeing and unfettered development of its citizens through good governance.

“A good and responsive government is thus responsive to the need and aspirations of its citizens as well as being accountable and transparent in its affairs and dealings with the citizens.”

Speaking on the threats posed by the Boko Haram insurgency, he said “although currently Boko Haram has been degraded by the military to the extent that they are incapable of holding any portion of the Nigerian state, Boko Haram terrorists still remain a potent threat to Nigeria’s national security because they still have the capacity to launch attack on soft targets and attempt on hard targets.”

He stressed that conflicts between pastoralists and crop farmers across the country have become widespread and taken a violent and dangerous dimension, leading some states to enacting the anti grazing laws which he said is further generating fiercer tension.

He warned that if not carefully handled, the enactment of the ant grazing laws, instead of de-escalating the conflicts may escalate and complicate it, adding that apart from affecting national security, clashes between farmers and herders is capable of affecting food  security as it create a sense of insecurity in farming communities.

Nigeria, he said must address the issue of grazing land by properly demarcating it to avoid being overwhelmed by these conflicts, while herdsmen and farmers should be educated on the need to respect each other’s rights.

 

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