By Joan Nezi | Abuja
Abuja — The Federal Government has sounded the alarm over Nigeria’s porous frontiers after lawmakers and security chiefs revealed that 1,894 of the country’s 1,978 official entry points are currently unmanned, leaving huge swathes of land and coastal frontiers vulnerable to arms trafficking, illegal mining, human smuggling and transnational crime.
The disclosure has prompted fresh calls for urgent action and multi-agency reforms to secure the country’s borders. Including calls to implement the Nigeria Forest Security Service legislation recently passed by the National Assembly to improve Nigeria’s security architecture.
Lawmakers and security chiefs raise the alarm
At the inauguration of a House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on border security, the committee chair warned that the scale of unmanned crossings amounts to a national security crisis, exposing Nigeria to arms proliferation, drug smuggling, human trafficking, and the illicit export of minerals. Lawmakers said only a tiny fraction of official crossings are actively manned and monitored — a gap they say is being exploited by criminal networks.
How criminals exploit the gaps
Security analysts say the unmanned routes are used for a range of illegal activities: small arms and ammunition move across porous stretches in northwestern and northeastern corridors; human traffickers and smuggling rings use unmonitored roads and bush paths to move migrants and victims; and criminal syndicates coordinate the illegal extraction and export of minerals from remote mining sites. Recent reporting has linked illicit mining — particularly of lithium and gold — to criminal financing that can in some instances sustain violent non-state actors.
What the government has done — and why it’s not enough
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the Ministry of Interior have rolled out an e-border surveillance system and said it has been deployed to many strategic crossing points. Officials argue the digital upgrade — which includes automated tracking and surveillance tools — has delivered benefits in some corridors, but lawmakers insist the system does not yet cover the vast majority of unmanned routes and that human capacity is still severely lacking.
The Nigeria Customs Service and military units have also recorded seizures and arrests tied to cross-border criminality, but officials acknowledge that enforcement is patchy and hampered by logistics, manpower shortages and the sheer length of Nigeria’s land and maritime frontiers.
Economic and security fallout
Experts warn the consequences are wide: lost revenue from smuggled goods and illegally exported minerals; higher costs for security and insurance in border states; weakened investor confidence; and, crucially, the potential for illicit funds to fuel banditry, insurgency and kidnapping networks. The UN and other international agencies have repeatedly flagged how criminal exploitation of natural resources can entrench violent groups and undermine governance.
What lawmakers want — and what may come next
The House committee has called for:
- Immediate deployment of personnel to priority crossings;
- An accelerated rollout of the e-border system to cover all high-risk land and marine routes;
- Inter-agency data-sharing platforms linking Immigration, Customs, the military and police; and
- Community-level engagement and local reporting networks to detect and deter clandestine crossings.
Lawmakers also signalled plans to summon the heads of the NIS, Customs and the Ministries of Interior and Defence for a full briefing and to press for emergency budgetary support to hire and train border staff.
Voices from the frontline
A border-security specialist in Abuja told AWC News: “Digital surveillance is important, but technology without boots on the ground and accountable local partnerships will only go so far. Criminals adapt fast — we must close the human gaps as quickly as we expand cameras and sensors.”
Community leaders in several border states echoed the call for more visible security presence and for economic programmes that reduce the incentives for locals to collude with smugglers.
Toward a whole-of-state response
Officials say a sustainable solution will require more than short-term deployments. The measures proposed include beefing up the Nigeria Immigration Service’s recruitment drive, fast-tracking legislation to criminalise facilitators of illegal mining and trafficking, and strengthening regional cooperation with Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroon for coordinated patrols and intelligence sharing. Observers say joining the dots — from frontline enforcement to mineral-sector governance — is essential to deny criminal networks the revenues and routes they need to thrive.
Bottom line: The startling tally of unmanned entry points has turned Nigeria’s long-running border problem into an urgent national conversation. Closing nearly 1,900 security gaps will demand money, manpower, technology and political will — and fast. For now, the clock on action has started ticking. AWC News will follow developments as the House committee begins hearings.
