Border security and the Nigerian dilemma

A review of Border Security and Governance in Africa: Essays in Honour of Professor Anthony I. Asiwaju by Paul Liam

NIGERIA is confronted with grave security crisis threatening its corporate existence. The political will to contain the deplorable situation and arrest the nation’s seeming descent into total anarchy is wantonly lacking, and the polity is riddled with war tunes. Experts have opined that since the attainment of independence from the British, the country has not been compromised as it is today. Terrorism, banditry and the formation of ethnic militias across the country have become the order of the day. The country is witnessing what many have described as a colossal failure of government to honour its fundamental obligation of securing the lives and properties of its citizens.

This then contextualises the foregrounding ideas dissected in the book, Border Security and Governance in Africa: Essays in Honour of Professor Anthony I. Asiwaju, edited by Chris M.A Kwaja, Kemi Okenyodo and Willie A. Eselebor.

Emeritus Professor Asiwaju is a revolutionary historian and border studies expert whose pioneering works in the field in Africa have become generic reference sources, for academic inquiries on border security in Africa. The 129-page book published by the Rule of Law and Empowerment Initiative, also known as Partners West Africa (PWAN) in 2021, is a conglomeration of brilliant border studies, historians, governance and development experts.

The book was first conceived in 2019 to celebrate the legacies of the Emeritus Professor Asiwaju when he turned 80 years old, but was eventually published in 2021 when he turned 82.

It is a collage of expertrate engagement with the nation’s dilemma with the hope of providing the government with scientific solutions to insecurity.

It is a book that should be read by every government official and security operatives as it would provide them with the root causes and solutions to the challenges the country is facing.

Ufiem M. Ogbonnaya in his paper, ECOWAS Border Management Policy posits that, “while there exist over 3,000 illegal entry points from Benin into Nigeria and vice versa. Across these over 3,000 illegal entry points, transnational criminal activities of organised and unorganised nature take place and over 70 per cent of the crime and criminality that occur in Nigeria take root from these illegal entry points (NIPSS, 2018)”(p.33).

Rufus T. Akinyele in his paper, Trans-Border Crimes and Community Policing in Africa, discusses the attendant consequences of ungoverned territories and porous borders, and the need for community policing around borderlands in Africa.

On African states’ capacity to manage their borders in order to checkmate criminal activities and the implications of mercenary invasion of another country, Chris M.A Kwaja, in his paper, African Borders, Mercenaries and Foreign Fighters, opines that, “The growing threats posed by transnational crimes and criminal groups, intra and inter-state conflicts, human trafficking, illicit flow of arms, forced migration, the activities of mercenaries and foreign fighters among others, raise serious concerns about the capacity of the African states to effectively secure and manage borders” (p.70).

Kemi Okenyodo’s paper, Terrorism and the Lake Chad Region, contextualises the humanitarian dilemma caused by Boko Haram and Islamic State in West African Province (ISWAP) in the region since 2009.

As earlier stated, the book is in honour of Emeritus Professor Asiwaju whose feat in the field of border studies in Africa is unrivaled and there is no honour that can be greater than the expression of thoughts in one’s honour especially critical thoughts poised to reshape the future of a people in delirium.

Hussaini Abdu’s description of Professor Asiwaju’s exploits in the field of border studies is instructive, “Professor Asiwaju is one of the leading scholars in this field. His works have not only brought to the fore the historical forces that created this situation, it has also exposed the challenges of border communities across Africa. This is a significant book with great historical importance.”

It is also important to note at this juncture that an otherwise brilliant book by some of Nigeria’s finest scholars in the field of border studies is inundated with many editorial lapses that cut across typographical, semantical, grammatical and structural issues.

 

• Paul Liam is a poet, critic and author.

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