Nigeria is stepping up efforts to modernise its border management system by expanding the use of digital technology, biometric identification, intelligence sharing and closer cooperation with communities living along the country’s borders.
The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Kemi Nandap, disclosed this on Monday in Lagos at the 2026 conference of the African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE).
The conference, themed “The Connected Borderlands: Socio-Cultural Integration and the Centrality of Policy, Research, and Security,” brought together researchers, government officials, security practitioners and development partners.
Nandap said the changing nature of migration, regional integration, cross-border commerce and emerging security threats had made it necessary for Nigeria to rethink how its borders are managed.
She argued that borders should not be treated simply as lines separating countries, noting that they are also areas where communities interact, businesses operate and cultural ties are maintained.
According to her, the challenge is to maintain effective border security while allowing legitimate travellers and traders to move freely and preserving the economic and social links between border communities.
Technology takes centre stage
The NIS chief said threats such as human trafficking, migrant smuggling, identity fraud, organised crime, terrorism and cybercrime increasingly cross national boundaries.
She said tackling such threats required security agencies to share information, coordinate their operations and make greater use of technology.
Nandap explained that the NIS was combining technology and intelligence with the experience and professional judgement of immigration officers to improve the country’s border security architecture.
She recalled that Nigeria became the first African country to introduce the electronic passport in 2007, describing it as part of the country’s gradual transition towards technology-driven immigration services.
Since then, she said, the NIS had introduced enhanced e-passports with improved biometric and security features while digitising areas such as passport applications, payments, processing and identity verification.
The centralisation of passport personalisation, she added, had also strengthened the security and efficiency of passport production.
Nigeria’s participation in the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Public Key Directory (ICAO PKD), she said, was further helping to improve international verification of Nigerian electronic passports.
NIS expands biometric border controls
Nandap also highlighted the introduction of contactless biometric passport services for Nigerians living outside the country.
She said automated border-control technologies, including e-gates at international airports, were also being deployed to make passenger processing faster while maintaining security standards.
The immigration service is also investing in surveillance equipment, command-and-control systems, communications infrastructure and integrated data platforms covering the country’s air, land and maritime borders.
Nandap stressed that the objective was not simply to acquire more technology.
Rather, she said the systems were designed to help immigration officers identify threats earlier, make better-informed decisions, coordinate responses more effectively and facilitate the movement of legitimate travellers.
She also emphasised that technology could not replace human expertise, professionalism, sound judgement and integrity among border officials.
Border communities urged to participate
The NIS boss called for stronger partnerships with communities located along Nigeria’s borders, describing them as important partners in national security.
She said residents of border areas often possess local knowledge that can help authorities identify emerging risks and improve border management.
The Chairman of ABORNE, Paul Nugent, said health emergencies such as Ebola and COVID-19, as well as regional insurgencies, had repeatedly placed African borders at the centre of security and political responses.
He noted that such situations had sometimes resulted in prolonged border closures.
Nugent said ABORNE was seeking to bridge the gap between academic research and government policy by engaging border agencies, policymakers and practitioners.
He said the network’s approach also sought to present African borderlands as more than areas associated with insecurity, highlighting their importance as centres of trade, urban development and cultural exchange.
Anthony Asiwaju, a former Director of the Centre for African Regional Integration and Border Studies, also commended the organisers of the conference.
