The Federal Government has restated its resolve to transform Nigeria’s international boundaries from zones of division into corridors of cooperation and economic integration, particularly for communities along the borders.

This was the central message at the 2025 African Border Day celebration in Abuja yesterday organised by the National Boundary Commission (NBC) with the theme, ‘Building Community Resilience and Economic Development through Cross-Border Cooperation’.

At the event, deputy governors of border states raised the alarm over insecurity, poor investment and inadequate support for cross-border development initiatives, calling on the Federal Government to establish special intervention funds and overhaul security architecture along the borders.

The Director-General of NBC, Adamu Adaji, said the event offered a platform to reflect on the importance of borders not merely as geopolitical demarcations but as strategic instruments for peace, security and regional development.

He noted that while colonialism left Africa with arbitrary lines that divided people of common heritage, present-day governance must repurpose those boundaries to enable shared growth and cross-national unity.

“Borders are where sovereignty ends but cooperation begins,” Adaji said. “Our goal is to turn these frontiers into points of synergy both economically and socially between Nigeria and her neighbours.”

Adaji described the Nigeria-Benin border as one of the most complex, cutting across six states and 10 local councils, with persistent issues in Kebbi, Kwara, Niger and Ogun states. He explained that although the Nigeria-Niger boundary was nearly fully demarcated, disputes remained over water boundaries and border-straddling communities.

In his goodwill message at a high-level event, the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, who also chairs the Nigeria Coast Border Platform, lamented the lack of visible commitment from the Federal Government towards strengthening marine and coastal border security.

“I have not seen what the Federal Government is doing to create special funds for this platform. On our borders, we should have a dedicated Marine Safety Corps for intelligence gathering,” Ewhrudjakpo said.

His Sokoto counterpart, Idris Gobir, who chairs the Nigeria-Niger International Border Platform, emphasised that “insecurity remains a fundamental threat” to any form of regional collaboration.

“As long as we have insecurity, we should not even talk about collaboration. Let us achieve security first,” he said.

Deputy Governor of Ogun State and Chairperson of the Nigeria-Benin International Border Platform, Noimot Salako-Oyedele, called for the prioritisation of security in the national discourse.

“I think we have to be addressing how the country’s security is a real story.”