The National Boundary Commission has called for closer cooperation among African governments, researchers, border communities and development partners as security, migration and trade pressures increase across the continent’s borderlands.
NBC Director General Adamu Adaji made the call at the 2026 International Conference of the African Borderlands Research Network in Lagos.
The conference focused on connected borderlands, socio cultural integration, research, policy and security.
Adaji described border areas as spaces of economic opportunity and social interaction but also as locations where insecurity, irregular migration, smuggling and disputes over territory could become more difficult to manage.
He said effective border governance required more than fencing, patrols and physical infrastructure.
According to him, governments needed stronger research, evidence based policy and structured cooperation with people who lived in border communities.
The conference examined terrorism, banditry, arms trafficking, irregular migration, smuggling and maritime insecurity.
Adaji said those challenges increasingly crossed national boundaries and could not be tackled by one country or institution acting alone.
He argued that African governments needed to balance sovereignty and territorial control with lawful mobility, trade and regional integration.
The NBC also participated in discussions on boundary demarcation, maritime governance and cross border cooperation.
Officials said better management of borders would require coordination among security agencies, ministries, academic institutions and local communities.
ABORNE was established in 2007 as an interdisciplinary network focusing on international borders and borderland issues across Africa.
The Lagos conference was co hosted by Lagos State University and the Nigeria Immigration Service, with participation from the NBC, Border Communities Development Agency, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies and Nigerian Institute of International Affairs.
Adaji said the central challenge was no longer simply how to secure borders, but how to govern them in ways that encouraged cooperation without weakening national security.
