Federal Government has warned that Africa’s borderlands are increasingly becoming theatres for terrorism, arms trafficking, smuggling, irregular migration and other transnational threats, prompting calls for a fundamental rethink of how the continent secures and manages its frontiers.

The Director-General of the National Boundary Commission (NBC), Surveyor Adamu A. Adaji, raised the alarm in Lagos, saying Africa could no longer rely solely on physical infrastructure and security deployments to address increasingly complex border challenges.

Adaji spoke at the opening of the 2026 International Conference of the African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE), where security experts, academics and government officials examined the growing links between border governance and regional security.

According to him, borders have become strategic spaces where security, trade, migration, identity, citizenship, environmental concerns and regional integration now collide, making conventional approaches to border management inadequate.

He said, “The effective management of these borders requires not only physical infrastructure and security measures but also informed policies grounded in rigorous research and evidence-based analysis.”

The NBC DG warning comes against the backdrop of persistent cross-border security threats confronting Nigeria and other African countries, including terrorism, banditry, trafficking in arms, irregular migration and maritime insecurity.

He argued that the challenge facing governments was no longer simply securing territorial boundaries, but developing systems capable of managing legitimate movement and economic interaction while preventing criminal networks from exploiting border gaps.

“The challenge before us therefore is not merely how to secure borders, but how to govern them in ways that balance sovereignty with cooperation, security with mobility, and national interests with regional aspirations,” Adaji said.

The warning formed a major theme of a plenary roundtable at the conference titled “Frontiers: Border Demarcation, Maritime Governance and Cross-Border Cooperation in a Changing Security Landscape.”

The session brought together senior NBC officials and the Force Commander of the Multi-National Maritime Task Force in the Gulf of Guinea, Commodore M. S. Shettima.

The commission’s head of press and public relations , Chinwe Udouwem in a statement on Tuesday said participants examined boundary delimitation, transboundary security threats and maritime governance, with terrorism, banditry, arms trafficking, irregular migration, smuggling and maritime insecurity identified among the major challenges requiring coordinated regional responses.

Adaji also called for stronger collaboration among governments, academia, border communities and development partners, saying sustainable solutions could not be achieved by security agencies alone.

His position places greater emphasis on border communities and research institutions in addressing security challenges that frequently transcend national jurisdictions.

The ABORNE conference, holding in Lagos from August 24 to 28, is themed “The Connected Borderlands, Socio-Cultural Integration, and the Centrality of Policy, Research, and Security.”

It is co-hosted by Lagos State University and the Nigeria Immigration Service, with the NBC, Border Communities Development Agency, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies and Nigerian Institute of International Affairs among the partner institutions. (The Guardian)