FG inaugurates committee on international border conference

The Federal Government has inaugurated a National Planning Committee to organise the 2018 Border Region in Transition (BRIT) Conference scheduled to hold in Nigeria.

The Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, while inaugurating the‎ committee on Tuesday in Abuja, said that the conference would mark a new dawn in border management in Nigeria.

The BRIT conference is a leading international scientific network of interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners who meet bi-annually to discuss innovations relating to border and cross-border management.

Represented by Dr Rufai Attahiru, the Director overseeing the office of the Permanent Secretary, the minister pledged government’s support for the conference.‎

According to him, the conference, which will be hosted by University of Ibadan in October 2018, will proffer solutions to the challenges of border management in Nigeria.

He said “it is heart-warming that hundreds of intellectuals and experts across the globe will converge on Nigeria.

“This is at a period when the Federal Government is making efforts to tackle the threats and challenges associated with trans-border crimes and criminality in the country.”

Earlier, the Chairman of the Planning Committee, Prof. Tajudeen Akanji of University of Ibadan, said this was the first time the conference would hold in Africa since its inception in 1994.

He said the 2018 conference would be co-hosted by Nigeria and Benin, where contemporary issues such as border management, migration, smuggling, human tracking and trans-border crimes would be discussed.

Akanji expressed optimism that recommendations from the conference would be forwarded to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for implementation.

The 21-member committee comprised of key stakeholders such as the Nigeria Immigration Service, Customs, Police, National Boundary Commission and the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA).