Africa’s borderlands are increasingly becoming hotspots for terrorism, arms trafficking, smuggling, irregular migration and other transnational threats, the Federal Government has warned.
The Director-General of the National Boundary Commission, Surveyor Adamu A. Adaji, gave the warning in Lagos at the opening of the 2026 International Conference of the African Borderlands Research Network.
The conference, holding in Lagos from August 24 to 28, is themed “The Connected Borderlands, Socio-Cultural Integration, and the Centrality of Policy, Research, and Security”.
Adaji said Africa could no longer rely solely on physical infrastructure and security deployments to manage growing border challenges, stressing the need for research-driven policies.
He said borders had become strategic spaces where security, trade, migration, identity and regional integration intersect.
“The effective management of these borders requires not only physical infrastructure and security measures but also informed policies grounded in rigorous research and evidence-based analysis”, he said.
Adaji said the focus should extend beyond securing territorial boundaries to managing legitimate movement and economic activities while preventing criminal networks from exploiting border gaps.
He called for stronger collaboration among governments, academia, border communities and development partners, noting that security agencies alone could not tackle the challenges.
