Minister seeks overhaul of border security strategy

The Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, has said Nigeria has no border protection especially when compared with the United States and Canada.Moro, who spoke with journalists at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on arrival from a security exhibition in US and Canada, said effective control measures were necessary to secure the porous nature of Nigerian borders.According to him, Nigeria needs to replicate the border control strategies of the US which he said has a very tight border control especially along the US-Mexico border. Moro explained that the Federal Government was interested in mounting the same security vigilance at the border posts, but was hindered by lack of funds.He said, "I went for a conference in Canada; it was an annual conference, an exhibition of the latest in technology in terms of surveillance and intelligent gathering. "We do not have any border protection in Nigeria. I took time off to access the border control of the US. Our borders are literarily open if you compare them with those of the US. "In those places, they have border control, border plazas and border posts.The minister added, "They have sufficient personnel and they have border protection agency that is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that only legitimate persons crossed into the US territory. The system is technology -driven. Their equipment is segmented. There are machines for narcotics, there are machines to detect arms and ammunitions."The minister believed the exhibition had exposed the ministry to a new dimension on security which would serve the country well as it grapples with terrorism and other security challenges. Moro added, "The exposure will be of use to the Ministry of Interior, especially as we tackle the internal security in Nigeria. In the US, I attended a meeting on fire services. I have realised that there is a gap in the fire delivery system in Nigeria. "What I have been doing since I assumed office is to look at the facilities that are available in the ministry especially those that have to do with internal security and so the discovery that I had is that the fire delivery system in Nigeria has not been up to date. So we have been talking with some organisations and companies to partner with the Ministry of interior so that we can have a very effective fire response system in the country."
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