The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has described the disclosure by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, that more than half of the borders in the North-East and North-West of Nigeria are unguarded as worrisome and disturbing.
The group’s National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, said this in a statement made available to journalists on Monday.
The group said the danger posed by the unmanned borders to the security of Nigerians was huge and showed a lack of seriousness in fighting the issue.
Afenifere expressed regret that less than a year to the end of the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), the government has yet to take necessary steps on what the CDS considered “a key source of criminality and violent crimes in those parts of the country.”
Afenifere’s spokesman quoted Irabor as saying while delivering a lecture at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, Lagos, that “our borders are largely unmanned.”
He further quoted the CDS as revealing that 137 out of about 261 borders in the North-East and North-West regions of the country are unguarded and that these porous borders account for the easy access of terrorists from neighbouring countries into Nigeria.
“As we all know, the administration has less than one year to wind up. What have the security agencies been doing about the vast unmanned borders and what has the government been doing for insecurity to keep rising as its years in the saddle increase?” Afenifere asked.
The pan-Yoruba organisation wondered if the nation’s borders had always been unmanned or if the situation was recent.
Safe, secure elections
Afenifere submitted that the government had more to do if Buhari’s promise to “ensure that the 2023 general elections are safe and secure for all Nigerians,” must be fulfilled.
The group also made reference to the comments of state governors, who he said informed the President that elections might not be held in the North-West of the country due to the increasing security challenges in the region.
It added, “Worth mentioning also is Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s disclosure that bandits are setting up a parallel government in the state.
“All these and more are reasons why Nigerians are very worried about the country’s security situation and the chances of the President’s promise to end insecurity soon coming to fruition.
“The reality on the ground does not give people reasons to be so assured—much as they would want to be so optimistic.”
Ajayi further called on the government to employ technology and the vast majority of youths to man the porous borders, adding that state governments should be allowed to establish their own police.
“Doing so would reduce unemployment and enhance security in the country.
“As a lasting solution to Nigeria’s myriad problems, the government should set in motion the machinery for restructuring,” he added.
