The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mrs. Kemi Nandap, has called for stronger collaboration among African governments, security agencies, researchers, policymakers and border communities to build borderlands that are secure, connected, resilient and prosperous.
Nandap said Africa’s changing migration patterns, increasing regional integration, expanding cross-border economic activities and emerging security threats required countries to rethink traditional approaches to border management.
She spoke on Monday in Lagos at the opening of the 2026 Annual Meeting of the African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE), jointly hosted by the Nigeria Immigration Service and Lagos State University.
The conference, themed “Connected Borderlands, Socio-Cultural Integration and the Centrality of Policy, Research and Security,” brings together researchers, policymakers, security practitioners and other stakeholders to examine contemporary challenges affecting African border communities.
Nandap said borders should no longer be regarded merely as geographical lines separating sovereign countries, noting that they are also spaces where families, communities, cultures, livelihoods, markets and economies interact.
“Borders must be understood not merely as geographical lines separating sovereign states but as dynamic spaces where families remain connected, communities interact, cultures converge, livelihoods are sustained and legitimate trade and movement take place,” she said.
According to the NIS chief, traditional border-control methods involving physical patrols and inspection of travel documents remain important but are no longer sufficient to confront increasingly sophisticated transnational crimes.
She identified human trafficking, migrant smuggling, identity fraud, organised crime, terrorism and cyber-enabled threats among the challenges requiring stronger intelligence gathering, technology and cooperation across national and institutional boundaries.
“For the Nigerian Immigration Service, this means combining the experience and judgement of our officers with technology, intelligence and stronger cooperation with other institutions,” Nandap said.
She highlighted steps already taken by Nigeria to modernise immigration and border-management systems, recalling that the country became the first African nation to introduce the electronic passport in 2007.
According to her, the NIS has since deployed enhanced electronic passports incorporating stronger biometric and security features, while automating significant aspects of passport application, payment, processing and identity verification.
She also pointed to the centralisation of passport personalisation, Nigeria’s participation in the Public Key Directory and deployment of automated border-control systems, including e-gates at international airports, as measures aimed at strengthening national security while improving the experience of legitimate travellers.
Nandap said investments in surveillance and alert systems, command-and-control capabilities, communications infrastructure and integrated data platforms were further improving situational awareness across Nigeria’s air, land and maritime borders.
She cautioned, however, that technology should remain an instrument for strengthening professional border management rather than becoming an end in itself.
According to her, sophisticated equipment cannot replace the professionalism, experience, judgement and integrity of immigration personnel responsible for applying border-management policies.
The Comptroller-General also placed particular emphasis on the role of border communities, arguing that people living along national boundaries possess valuable knowledge of their environments, movement patterns and longstanding cross-border relationships.
“They should therefore not be regarded merely as populations residing at the geographical margins of the state, but as essential stakeholders and strategic partners in promoting secure, peaceful, resilient and prosperous borderlands,” she said.
Nandap stressed the importance of balancing security requirements with regional integration, particularly within West Africa, where families, markets and communities historically developed relationships that extend across present-day national boundaries.
She said Nigeria remained committed to partnerships in border technology, biometric identity management, cybersecurity, surveillance, intelligence sharing, capacity building and research.
The NIS chief maintained that effective international and institutional partnerships should not be limited to the provision of equipment but should also develop human capacity, strengthen institutions and create solutions specifically adapted to African realities.
She said researchers, operational practitioners and border communities possess different forms of knowledge that can produce more effective policies when properly brought together.
“When research, policy, operational practice and community knowledge come together, we are better placed to develop solutions that are both effective and responsive to the people they are intended to serve,” she said.
Nandap predicted that the border of the future would become increasingly digital, biometric and intelligence-led, but insisted that border governance must remain centred on people.
“Our ambition is therefore broader than securing Nigeria’s borders. We seek secure, connected and resilient borderlands where communities can prosper, legitimate trade and mobility can flourish, and countries can cooperate in confronting shared threats,” she stated.
She consequently urged participants at ABORNE 2026 to move beyond merely identifying existing challenges and instead develop practical and sustainable partnerships capable of connecting research with policy, technology with people, and security with regional integration.
Nandap expressed hope that the outcomes of the conference would extend beyond the meeting itself and contribute meaningfully to safer, more peaceful and economically prosperous borderlands across Africa.
Also speaking, the Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University, Distinguished Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, aligned with the view that African borders should not be understood only as territorial dividing lines.
She described borderlands as spaces of interaction, commerce, exchange, identity and shared livelihoods, noting that families, traders, farmers, pastoralists and transport workers maintained relationships across many of Africa’s boundaries long before the emergence of modern states.
Olatunji-Bello said the conference was particularly significant because it marked the first time LASU and the NIS were co-hosting an ABORNE annual meeting in Nigeria since the network was founded in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, in 2007.
She maintained that while border security remains essential, it should not result in isolation or unnecessarily obstruct legitimate movement, trade and interaction among communities.
The Vice-Chancellor stressed the importance of integrating policy, research and security, describing their relationship as indispensable to effective border governance.
“Research needs practice. Practice needs research. And both need policy. That is the triangle within which meaningful border governance must operate,” she said.
Olatunji-Bello described Lagos as an appropriate location for the gathering because of its strategic position as a major centre of commerce, culture, migration and regional connectivity, particularly within the Lagos-Abidjan Corridor.
She also highlighted LASU’s Bachelor of Arts programme in Border and Migration Studies, saying its establishment reflected the university’s understanding that border issues go beyond territorial sovereignty to include questions of livelihood, identity, security, development and human mobility.
The Vice-Chancellor challenged universities and researchers to move beyond documenting conditions in border communities and instead produce evidence and ideas capable of shaping migration and border-management policy.
