I
t’s now all over the news that the
Federal Government has shutdown
all land borders for the reason of
“security and smuggling”.
The attempt to secure the coun-
try’s borders is a welcome development.
But in a civilised and democratic society,
a proper public enlightenment would
have been done in order to forestall the
pains and sufferings of those whose
livelihood depends largely on legitimate
business through the borders.
From Calabar to Badagry, the liveli-
hood of some of our brothers and sisters
have been cut off now for some days,
and those who are trans border travels
have been stocked in the border for days
now. If proper public enlightenment had
been done by the FG, these sufferings
and pains of fellow Nigerians would have
been alleviated.
In a situation where the Federal Gov-
ernment will just wake up one morning
and shutdown the borders for whatever
reason is not a way to go.
According to the ECOWAS rules of
engagement and diplomatic under-
standing, shutdown of borders is to be
well communicated to the governments
of the bordering countries who should
communicate the same to their citizens
for proper preparation for such shut-
down.
But as it is, it seems that there was no
proper communication to the authorities
of the neighbouring countries. This was
duly confirmed on the broadcast media
when our West African issues were taken
to far away Japan where our President,
Muhammadu Buhari had to meet with
the Presidents of Benin and Niger Re-
public. This is very unfortunate. Regional
cooperation demands that these issues
should have been well discussed ahead
before the closure of the land boarders.
If the Federal Government has got
any intelligence to shutdown the land
borders, is it for 28 days as the news
going round makes us believe? And
again, which borders of the nation have
the most security risks, is it the borders
in the North where we have terrorism
and banditary being the order of the day,
or the southern borders where security is
relatively in order?
As long as we need the country’s bor-
ders to be well secured, there’s the need
for the Federal Government to be more
transparent and sensitive to the needs
and pains of its citizenry. The manner in
which the country’s security operations
are being handled still leave more to be
desired.
If we are to achieve coordinated success
against insecurity and brigandery, we
must have security strategic planning
that will give no room to suspicion of
being one sided in our judgement and
execution.
