With Less than N10bn Budget, Immigration can’t Protect our Borders – Tunji Ojo
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has raised serious concerns over Nigeria’s ability to secure its borders, citing grossly inadequate budgetary allocations to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
Speaking at a constitutional review event jointly organised by the House of Representatives Committee and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in Abuja, Tunji-Ojo questioned the nation’s commitment to internal security.
“Let’s look at the 2025 budget,” the minister said. “How much do you even have for border security? That’s the truth. The whole budget of Nigeria Immigration Service — the capital budget — is less than ₦10 billion or something, and you want to protect 4,024 square kilometers of our border space. Are we joking?”
He warned that without proper funding, Nigeria’s porous borders will continue to pose a serious threat. “Once you kill one terrorist, another 20 will be coming. The military is challenged,” he said.
“So for us, we need to be very realistic with ourselves. Do we want a system that works or we just want to play to the gallery?” he asked.
Tunji-Ojo lamented the overdependence on the military for internal security, saying it reflects a failure of the country’s internal security institutions.
Read Also:
“When we talk about security, internal security, the first thing that comes to a Nigerian mind is the military,” he said. “That is a sign of failure of our internal security agencies. Let’s tell ourselves the truth.”
He emphasised the capabilities of other security agencies, saying, “We have some of the most brilliant people in our DSS. We have our NIA doing fantastically well. You can see the kind of leadership the NSA is providing.”
The Minister also criticised the funding model of the police. “I do not see a reason why our police, for instance, should even rely on budgetary allocation,” he said. “We’re talking about the most populous Black nation on Earth. Africa has a population of 1.2 billion people — 240 million of that population are Nigerians — and you have a police force that depends on capital budget and all these things. And you think we will be efficient?”
In addition, he expressed concern about Nigeria’s outdated cyber security framework. “The attention that we are paying to cyber security — we are still living 20 years behind,” he said. “You cannot continue to run a cyber security architecture on an ad-hoc arrangement. There must be a proper, proper security framework.”
Tunji-Ojo called on lawmakers and stakeholders to urgently reform the nation’s internal security structure and funding strategy, warning that failure to act would leave Nigeria increasingly vulnerable.
By PRNigeria
