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By Abdulwaheed Olayinka Adubi
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, has disclosed that no fewer than 137 borders in the North are unprotected out of the 261 approved borders.
The Chief of Staff made the disclosure in Lagos while delivering a lecture on “security, defence and development in Nigeria” on Friday.
While speaking, he noted that terrorists easily get access to the country through neighbouring countries, adding that the porous borders are giving them sleepless nights.
He explained that “our borders are largely unmanned. The penetrability of our vast unmanned land areas – the north-east and north-west zones, particularly Borno, Yobe, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Katsina states – with neighbouring countries such as Niger Republic and Chad among others has continued to be a key source of criminality and violent crimes in those parts of the country.
“The porous nature of the borders has made it easily accessible for terrorists and bandits to enter the country to commit mayhem.
“For instance, there are about 364 approved international border points in Nigeria with about 261 in the north-east and north-west regions.
“Out of this 261, only 124 are manned leaving the remaining 137 unmanned by security agencies.
“Intelligence suggests that violence actors are using some of these normal border points to move freely from countries into Nigeria to cause mayhem.”
Though, he was optimistic that the use of technology will strengthen the Nigerian borders, in addition to the erection of physical structures and effective management.
“So I am looking ahead, when we bring technology to bear in the management of our borders, in addition of course, to physical structures that need to be established across the length of our borders, then we can contribute to the overall security of our land,” he emphasized.