Senator Domingo Obende on Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland called for more effective measures in the policing of Nigeria’s borders.
Obende (APC-Edo) made the call at an interactive session with journalists at the 130th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference in Geneva.
Such measures, the Nigerian lawmaker said would help to check activities of insurgents, especially members of the Boko Haram sect.
“In tackling the problem of insurgency which is currently facing the nation, there is a need to stop the insurgents from using the country’s border lines.
“The only solution to insurgents’ infiltration is effective policing of such borders, which is the first and foremost measure.
“This way we will stop the insurgents from using our border lines, or rather their own country’s border lines to come into our country”, Obende said.
The senator, however, claimed that a long stretch of the Nigerian border line is porous and largely unmanned.
“I will say that Nigeria is without borders, because when you talk about borders, it pre-supposes that you have the personnel who will man them.
“But when you go to our border with Chad and Cameroon, everywhere is open. So, we really need to spend money in fencing these borders.
“If we don’t do that, this will continue and, of course, Nigeria will be an easy access for any attack in any case of a problem with any country tomorrow or any other day”, he said.
Obende however called for a proper examination of issues relating with Nigeria’s border with other countries.
“For me, I think we should be able to put an institution on ground which will look into the border issues and have a clear-cut understanding of how we are going to man our borders”, he said.
The senator expressed optimism that there would soon be a solution to the problem.
“With the way the Senate President, David Mark, has been relating and discussing with some IPU member-countries who share common borders with Nigeria, there will be a solution to the problem soon”, he said.
