The Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs) Monisade Afuye, has made passionate appeal to all the states of the federation to form a strong coalition against those using borders to perpetrate all manners of criminalities and economic sabotage.
Mrs Afuye said the spiraling cases of banditry, kidnapping, farmers-herders and smuggling of goods causing loss of lives and economic pillaging, could have been curtailed easily if all the states of the federation keep their borders well secured.
The Deputy Governor also warned against rising cases of inter state boundary disputes, saying the attendant loss of lives and rising bedlams are having a toll on the strides being taken to build a peaceful and united nation.
Mrs Afuye spoke at a two- day seminar tagged: ‘Engaging Local Government and Border /Boundary Communities in the Security and Socio Economic Management of Nigerian Borders’, organised by the Senate Committee on Boundary, in conjunction with National Boundary Commission, in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, on Tuesday.
Speaking about the significance of water-forced borders to the growth of the Nigerian nation, Mrs Afuye posited that peace across borders remain a veritable weapon to boost the economy through trade relations and checking of criminals constituting threats to the system.
She said the government of Ekiti State under Governor Biodun Oyebanji, has initiated strong working relationships with all border states, and had midwifed a process of engagements with his colleagues to bring a halt to cases of criminalities being experienced at border posts.
“Recently, I led a delegation on behalf of Governor Biodun Oyebanji to Osun State and I was received by the colleague Deputy Governor, Prince Kola Adewusi, where we robbed minds on how to resolve some of the boundary disputes between the two states, so that our people can begin to work together.
“Similar efforts will be taken to Ondo, Kwara, and Kogi States, which we also shared border with. No state can witness peace without working with other neighbouring states, because most of the criminals terrorising a state were from adjoining states, so there was imperative to build s strong synergy to be able to arrest such situation.
“Transborder criminals and bandits are doing a lot of havocs on our nation. Nigerian loses trillions of Naira yearly to smuggling, besides the killings and destruction of crops being caused by bandits and marauding herders to our economic and food crops.
“Since our means of livelihoods and security of lives are tied to how save our borders are, then our stares shouldn’t hesitate to work together to make Nigeria a safe entity”.
Speaking on the topic: “Managing Boundary Disputes: The role of National Boundary Commission”, the Director General of NBC, Surveyor Adamu Adaji, said the seminar was conceptualised to broader the horizons of stakeholders on the need to place high premium priority on the safety of their borders for socio-economic development of the country.
He appealed to states of the federation to contrive ways to settle all the existing boundary disputes and prevent bloodshed, describing this as the only way to preserve and protect the country’s unity and security.
Adaji expressed optimism that after the seminar, the subnational would realise the expediency of ensuring safety at borders and need to settle inter state land disputes peacefully, to avoid bloodshed.
