The Burden of Borders: Reassessing the Impacts of Nigeria’s Border Closure on the National Security

Abstract

ABSTRACT The pan-African worldview of Nigeria’s political leaders and Abuja’s putative hegemonic leadership in Africa had entailed Nigeria operated an idealistic border policy. However, convinced that border closure remained a solution to the perennial insecurity and economic ‘sabotage’ in Nigeria, President Buhari imposed border closure in 2019. While the government declared the controversial policy a ‘success’ in the fight against crimes, this paper disagrees with this assertion, contending that the closure failed to achieve its purposes. The study interrogates the factors accountable for this failure. It identifies poor governance of national borders despite closure as a potent factor exacerbating the crisis.