President Muhammadu Buhari has said Nigeria and its neighbors must place a higher premium on effective border policing to check criminal activities.
The President stated this when he hosted Dr Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General, World Customs Organization (WCO), on Thursday in Abuja.
Mikuriya is in Nigeria for the Global Conference on Fragile Borders.
According to the president, the fragile nature of entry points to various countries increases terrorism, economic sabotage, and the flow of illegal weapons.
While commending Mikuriya for his 4th visit to the country, Buhari said the current one will come at a time when Nigeria is preparing for general elections.
“I have made a cardinal commitment to ensure that every Nigerian can exercise their franchise by participating in free and fair elections, a relatively new democratic practice.
“Our goal is to ensure that this happens in a peaceful and conducive atmosphere, despite all the excitement and gamesmanship that generally occurs during election campaigns,” he said.
The theme of the conference was ‘Enabling Customs in Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations,’ which the President said was “very important to us as a country when we vote.
“(It is) equally important for most countries on the continent, and I dare say the world. In fact, it is the most important sub-issue of our national security agenda.
“The fragility of our borders has been a major Achilles heel in the fight against terrorism, economic sabotage and the flow of small and light weapons.”
He praised the organization for “inviting great thought leaders to dissect the issue and explore how African countries can address this issue given their unique circumstances while also pursuing a shared and collective vision of a continent that is interconnected through trade and the movement of goods and services .”
The Nigerian leader briefed the WCO Secretary General and his team on several efforts to combat the fragile border challenges, including:
“The 2019 National Security Strategy which promotes close inter-agency cooperation and the National Counter-Terrorism strategy which mandates the Nigeria Customs Service to support other government Agencies in combating terrorism;
“Support for the armed forces in launching operations to secure our borders.
“Demonstration of strong political will to support the Nigeria Customs Service, a critical agency of the country to deliver its security and revenue mandate.