LAGOS/Nigeria: The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has called for greater collaboration among universities, security agencies, regional institutions and development partners to strengthen Nigeria’s border security and improve migration management.
Tunji-Ojo made the call on Monday in Lagos at the opening of the 2026 conference of the African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE), which brought together scholars, policymakers, security practitioners and development partners to examine challenges affecting Africa’s borderlands.
The four-day conference is themed, “The Connected Borderlands, Socio-Cultural Integration, and the Centrality of Policy, Research, and Security.”
The minister, who was represented by his Senior Special Assistant on Policy, Dr Kareem Olajoku, said Nigeria needed to increasingly rely on research and evidence in developing policies for border management.
He stressed that academic research must remain connected to practical realities and should help governments anticipate emerging threats rather than merely explain problems after they occur.
Tunji-Ojo said effective management of Nigeria’s borders required closer cooperation between government institutions, security agencies, academic communities and other stakeholders, particularly in view of the changing nature of security, migration and cross-border challenges.
He also drew attention to the strategic role of border communities, saying residents of such areas should be treated as partners in security and development rather than merely as populations requiring protection.
“Building a resilient borderline therefore requires us to see border communities not merely as populations to be secured but as partners in security, peace and development,” he said.
According to him, people living in border communities are often the first to observe unusual movements and emerging threats and can therefore contribute significantly to early-warning mechanisms, conflict prevention and effective border management.
The minister said the Federal Government was continuing efforts to modernise Nigeria’s border management system through improvements in areas such as biometric identification, passport administration, automated border control and technology-enabled security.
He said the objective was to strengthen national security while ensuring that legitimate movement of people and goods, as well as regional mobility, was not unnecessarily hindered.
Tunji-Ojo described Lagos as an appropriate location for the conference, given its importance as a major gateway for the movement of people and goods through its seaports, international airport and other transportation corridors.
He said discussions around border security were inseparable from issues of trade, mobility, community relations, economic development and regional integration.
The minister commended Lagos State University (LASU) and ABORNE for bringing researchers and practitioners together, describing the partnership as an opportunity to bridge the gap between knowledge generation and practical policymaking.
He urged participants to move beyond identifying the challenges confronting Africa’s borderlands and concentrate on developing practical, collaborative and sustainable solutions.
Tunji-Ojo expressed the hope that partnerships and ideas generated at the conference would continue beyond the event and contribute to policy development and security practice across Nigeria, West Africa and the wider African continent.
The Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University, Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, said the hosting of the conference reflected the university’s commitment to producing research that responds to contemporary challenges facing Nigeria and Africa.
Olatunji-Bello said borderlands should not be viewed simply as geographical spaces separating territories, but as communities where issues of livelihoods, identity, security, development and human mobility intersect.
She said universities had a responsibility to study these realities, interrogate existing policies and contribute knowledge that could help shape effective responses.
The vice-chancellor noted that Africa needed a new generation of scholars and professionals who understood the complex relationship between border communities, security, development and regional integration.
She said academic institutions must go beyond observing the realities of border communities by helping governments and other stakeholders understand the challenges and develop policies capable of addressing them.
The conference provides a platform for stakeholders to examine how research, policy and security practice can be better integrated to promote safer, more connected and resilient border communities across Africa.
