Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation has raised concern over the unmanned borders across the country, saying it is inimical to the security of Nigerians.
In a statement by its national publicity secretary, Jare Ajayi expressed regret that less than a year after the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the Federal Government is yet to take the necessary steps to tackle the criminality and violent crimes in those unmanned borders.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, who confirmed that “our borders are largely unmanned”, had revealed that 137 out of about 261 borders in the North-East and North-West regions of the country are unguarded and that these porous borders accounted for the easy access of terrorists from neighbouring countries into Nigeria.
Ajayi said: “Taken the President’s declaration and that of the Chief of Staff together, one finds it difficult not to wonder what the administration has been doing in the past seven years if this is the period that the government is working hard to contain and address security challenges in the country. As we all know, the administration has less than one year to wind up. What have the security agencies been doing about the vast unmanned borders and what has the government been doing for insecurity to keep rising as its years in the saddle increase?
“We are raising this issue because, if the borders have always been so porous, security agencies and the past governments had always managed to checkmate would-be criminals and terrorists from infiltrating the country.
“The infiltration began during former President Goodluck’s administration but got accentuated during the reign of the incumbent President Buhari. What went wrong? How? Why wait till now before thinking of employing technology to man the borders as indicated by the Chief of Defence Staff in his speech?
“All these and more are reasons Nigerians are very worried about the country’s security situation and the chances of the President’s promise to end insecurity soonest coming to fruition. The reality on the ground does not give the people reasons to be so assured – much as they would want to be so optimistic.”