The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has called for greater involvement of border communities in securing Nigeria's borders, alongside the use of digital technology, biometric systems and intelligence sharing to tackle emerging security threats.
The Comptroller-General of the NIS, Kemi Nandap, made the call in Lagos at the 2026 conference of the African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE).
The conference, themed "The Connected Borderlands: Socio-Cultural Integration and the Centrality of Policy, Research, and Security," brought together scholars, policymakers, border management practitioners and development partners to discuss border security, migration and cross-border relations in Africa.
Nandap said changing migration patterns, regional integration, cross-border economic activities and emerging security threats had made it necessary to rethink Nigeria's approach to border management.
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She said border areas should not be viewed only as geographical boundaries between countries, but also as places where families and communities interact and legitimate trade and movement take place.
She said the government must secure the borders while allowing lawful movement and protecting the socio-cultural and economic ties that sustain border communities.
She described border communities as strategic partners in border management, saying their local knowledge could help security agencies identify and respond to threats.
Nandap said the NIS was also combining technology and intelligence with the experience and professional judgment of its officers to address emerging threats.
She said Nigeria had introduced several digital systems to strengthen border management, including enhanced e-Passports, automated passport applications and biometric identity verification.
She recalled that Nigeria became the first African country to introduce the electronic passport in 2007 and had since introduced enhanced versions with stronger security and biometric features.
She said the centralisation of passport personalisation had improved the integrity of passport production, while Nigeria's participation in the International Civil Aviation Organization's Public Key Directory had strengthened the authentication of Nigerian electronic passports.
Nandap also said contactless biometric passport services had expanded access to passport processing for Nigerians living abroad.
At international airports, she said automated border control systems, including e-gates, were being used to combine biometric verification with faster passenger processing.
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She added that surveillance systems, command and control capabilities, communications infrastructure, and integrated border and data platforms were being deployed across Nigeria's air, land and maritime borders.
The Chairman of ABORNE, Prof Paul Nugent, said health emergencies such as Ebola and COVID-19, as well as regional insurgencies, had repeatedly placed African borders at the centre of political and security responses.
He said such crises often resulted in prolonged border closures, affecting border communities and cross-border economic activities.
Nugent said ABORNE was seeking to bridge the gap between academic research and policymaking by engaging border agencies, policymakers and field practitioners.
He said the network also sought to change perceptions of African borderlands, which are often viewed mainly through the lens of insecurity and underdevelopment.
Representing the Minister of Interior, Dr Kareem Olakuju, said Nigeria's border reforms reflected the government's commitment to protecting national security while facilitating legitimate trade and regional mobility.
The Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University, Prof Ibiyemi Bello, said the university's partnership with the NIS demonstrated the importance of linking research, policy and operational practice in border governance.
