…decries porous borders, underfunding of NIS
Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said on Monday that the porous nature of the Nigerian border has paved the way for foreigners to infiltrate the country, kidnapping for ransom to fund terrorist activities in other countries.
Tunji-Ojo said Nigeria was currently in the same situation the United States or America was before the September 2011 terrorist attack, with so much information and yet not knowing what to do with the information.
He spoke just as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, drew a nexus between the activities of some foreigners in the country and the growing insecurity, saying the nation must begin to look into such activities.
The Minister who spoke at a Constitution review legislative dialogue on national security organised by the House Committee on constitution review said the nation cannot afford to continue funding the police based on annual budgetary provisions and hope to achieve maximum results.
Ojo also questions the continued existence of some government agencies, which he said were created during the military, but have no relevance, drawing heavily from the national budget, while others are being underfunded.
The Minister acknowledged what he called internal security failure with the incursion of the military into the intern security system of the country saying there was no reason why the military should be part of the nation’s internal security.
He said, “When you look at some of these laws, it is like we set up agencies to fail. If you look at the 2025 budget, how much do you set aside for border security? The capital budget for the Nigeria Immigration Service is less than ₦ 10 billion, and you want to protect over 4024 square km of our border space. Are we joking?
“We are geographically challenged. Let’s call a spade a spade. If you look at countries that share similarities with Nigeria, see what they do in border governance, you will be shocked. For example, if you look at a country like Turkey,
“If you look at what they spend, because they know they are between Asia and Europe, they know the challenges, and Nigeria is so challenged.
“Nigeria, we are two geographical areas, and we are part of the Sahel. And you know what happens within the Sahel. On the other side is the Gulf of Guinea. We are in between, on the maritime side, from the Sahel, and anything that happens in all these countries, the endpoint is Nigeria.”
While drawing a nexus between economic crimes and terrorism financing, he said, “Most of what we have in Nigeria today is economic crime. Most of these people come to Nigeria to kidnap, raise funds to be able to fund insecurity in neighbouring countries.
“So there is a lot we need to do. If we continue to pay lip service, we don’t look at the issues on the ground, we will just be joking. Again, in reviewing our laws, we can’t deal with insecurity and not talk of terrorism financing. We must look at the EFCC Act and strengthen it
“We must look at the issue of our border. Nigeria is at a point now that the US was before the 9/11 attack. After the attack, the US sat down. They looked at the emerging threat.
“When we talk about internal security, the first thing that comes to mind is the military. That is a sign of the failure of our internal security agencies. Let’s tell ourselves the truth. For me, in terms of adequate funding, I do not see a reason why the police should even rely on budgetary allocation.
“When you are fighting internal security, you must mobilise your citizens. We must sit down and look at our laws. With the attention we are paying to cybersecurity, we are still living 20 years behind. You cannot continue to run a cybersecurity architecture on an ad hoc arrangement. There must be a proper security framework.
“Let us look holistically at our challenges. Let us anticipate broadly. Look ahead. Look at emerging security threats and proffer solutions to them.”
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The EFCC Chairman, on his part said the agency recently arrested about 194 foreigners in one single operation at a single building in Lagos for various offences, adding that investigation revealed that about 15 of those arrested were ex-convicts from their own countries.
He said 50 of those arrested have already been convicted by the court and have started serving their sentence, stressing the need to focus on emerging security challenges, while also amending the nation’s laws to remove operational challenges faced by agencies in carrying out their responsibilities and prosecuting offenders.
He said the porous borders of the country have opened the floodgate for gorgeous people to come into the country at will.
Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Kemi Nana Nandap, said the issue of border security was not captured in the Nigerian Constitution and is left without a distinctive framework and has therefore created a problem for the service.
She said even though it is critical to national security, it is not captured in the annual budget, adding that it is instructive to know that the security of your neighbour determines how secure you are
She said further that the country currently has about 1400 illegal entry points into the country, adding that the country must make deliberate efforts in managing the borders.