Despite the Federal Government’s multi-billion-naira border surveillance systems launched in 2019, illegal migrants—including individuals identified as bandits, terrorists, and kidnappers—continue to cross into Nigeria from neighboring countries such as the Republics of Benin, Chad, Niger, Mali, and Cameroon.
In response to this ongoing challenge, Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo announced that e-border surveillance is being deployed across Nigeria’s borders with its neighboring countries. “As we speak, more than half of our borders have been automated. There are visuals, and many processes are actively ongoing. So, effectively, e-border surveillance is now operational,” Tunji-Ojo stated in a live national television interview in May 2024.
The minister further explained that by October 2024, the first phase of the e-border surveillance project would be completed, covering both land and marine borders. “Now, we have command and control for air and land. You cannot secure your borders effectively without technology,” he emphasized.
At the launch of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Technology Innovation Complex in December 2024, Tunji-Ojo revealed that approximately 250 trained Immigration Service personnel work around the clock at the e-border control center.
However, despite these efforts, illegal immigration persists. In the Baruten/Kaiama border areas of Kwara State, residents reported that migrants continue to cross into Nigeria from the Republic of Benin, even though the government had officially closed the border. Abdulrasheed Abdullahi, the immediate past chairman of the Baruten Local Government Council, confirmed that citizens of the Benin Republic are still entering Nigeria through various illegal routes.
