FG to patrol borders with neighbouring countries 'Millions of Nigerians suffer in border towns -Senate

AS part of its effortsto stem the infiltration of foreigners into the country, the Federal Government has introduced joint border patrol between the country and neighbouring countries.The Minister of Interior, Mr Aba Moro, who stated this on Sunday while speaking with newsmen, disclosed that the ministry had played host to police authorities from Niger in its bid to fashion out ways of curbing infiltration of militants into the country.He added that similar efforts were being made with authorities of security agencies in other neighbouring countries, adding that government was determined to curb the illegal movement of foreigners into the country.The minister said, 'in the next one week, men of the Nigeria Police and officials of parastatals will visit Niger to work out modalities on intensification of the joint border patrol to stop the illegal movement of immigrants who take advantage of the porous borders.'He contended that the effort was not limited to Niger but include other neighbouring countries like Chad, Cameroon, etc.The minister, who called on Nigerians to be security conscious, noted that security was not the sole responsibility of government but that of everybody and charged Nigerians to always report strange movements or strange people to security agents.Meanwhile,The Senate Committee on States andLocal Government Administration has expressed dismay over the living condition of about 22 million Nigerians in border communities, saying that their living condition is appalling.The committee also blamed the Federal Government for the plight of these Nigerians.The chairman of the committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya, said this in a statement made available to newsmen in Kaduna on Sunday.He further stated that it was disheartening when people on the Nigerian side of the borders see their counterparts in neighbouring countries taking for granted the basic infrastructure they lacked and had always craved to have.The senate committee chairman wondered what the Federal Government had been doing with the abundant resources at its disposal when citizens living in about 2,000 border communities wallowed in penury and abject poverty.He described as laughable and unthinkable the release of only N4million to the Border Communities Development Agency in the last quarter, noting that development would continue to be a mirage as long as such government bodies were starved of funds.
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