The Senate on Wednesday passed for second reading, the bill for the establishment of a National Border Institution in Ameko, Ogun State.
Sponsor of the bill, Senator Tolu Ogunbiyi (Ogun West), told senators that the bill will provide for teaching, research, instruction and training of students in border management and for other related matters.
President of the Senate, Senator Ahmed Lawan referred the bill to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and Tetfunds to immediately carry out further legislative action and revert to the Senate in four weeks.
Arguing in favour of the Bill, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, (Niger North) told the Senate that the bill, when passed, would lead to the establishment of an institution that would carry out research to boost knowledge for informed policymaking nationally.
His words: “The ideas of this institute will afford us to have one base that will now galvanise all the interested people to have studies across the Nigerian border base to have empirical facts that can inform good planning and policymaking.”
Senator, Adeola Olamilekan (Lagos West) submitted that in view of the myriad of challenges facing the nation on security, economy and otherwise, it was in the interest of the nation to facilitate the establishment of the institution.
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“At this point in time of our national history, where there are challenges up and down amongst which are serious economic lull; challenges concerning trafficking across the border that are porous through the entire stretch of the border.
“Calls for the urgent need for us to establish the institute and to especially with the issue of incessant smuggling that has taken over the land, the institute will provide the opportunity for the personnel manning our borders to be trained on modern border strategies.
“Nigeria can have a safe border environment while assisting the government to increase her revenue than what the nation is currently experiencing,” Olamilekan submitted.
On his part, Senator, Olubunmi Adetumbi, Ekiti North, stated that the mere fact that the nation’s borders are huge and porous requires that an institution of this nature is established to provide studies that would explore the patterns of the various activities in the borders with a view to improving on them in the interest of the nation and the economy.
Senator Adetumbi listed the size of the land border area: “Nigeria has 3,053 km of international borders that is substantial. With Benin republic we have 773, Niger 1,479 area; Chad Nigeria has 87km and finally is the republic of Cameroon stretching from Borno to Cross River, it has 1690km of the border.
“This is a strategic institution to enable us to understand the patterns of migration Economic and trade between us and country as well as it’s the significance for security and cultural relation between Nigeria and these countries that border us.
“The only part of this country which we cannot we may not consider is the coastal areas which are merely bordered by the Atlantic ocean.
“It is very important that a country like Nigeria is also a seaport for a lot of landlocked countries, particularly, on northern part Niger Chad in particular, where most of the. goods land in the Lagos and then it is hauled through the country. This is a very strategic economic institution.”
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