Immigration Moves to Digitise Border Management, Boost Security

The Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, says it is accelerating the deployment of digital identity systems, automated border controls and intelligence-led surveillance to strengthen Nigeria’s borders while preserving legitimate movement and cross-border trade.

The Comptroller-General of the NIS, Kemi Nandap, disclosed this on Monday in Lagos at the 2026 conference of the African Borderlands Research Network.

The conference, themed “The Connected Borderlands: Socio-Cultural Integration and the Centrality of Policy, Research, and Security,” brought together researchers, policymakers, security practitioners and development partners to examine security and socio-economic developments across Africa’s border regions.

Nandap said Nigeria’s border management strategy was being reshaped by changing migration patterns, regional integration, expanding cross-border commerce and increasingly sophisticated security threats.

She stressed that borders should no longer be viewed merely as geographical boundaries separating countries, noting that border communities often share families, cultures and economic activities.

According to her, the challenge is to secure national borders without unnecessarily restricting legitimate travellers, traders and communities.

Nandap identified human trafficking, migrant smuggling, identity fraud, organised crime, terrorism and cyber-enabled offences among threats increasingly exploiting cross-border networks.

She said tackling these challenges required stronger collaboration among immigration authorities, security agencies, researchers and other stakeholders.

The NIS boss explained that the service was combining the expertise of its personnel with digital technology, intelligence gathering and inter-agency cooperation to improve its ability to detect and respond to security threats.

She noted that Nigeria had been pursuing technology-driven border administration for nearly two decades and became the first African country to introduce the electronic passport in 2007.

Since then, the NIS has upgraded its e-Passport system with enhanced biometric and security features, while digitising several aspects of passport processing.

These include applications, payments and identity verification, which have reduced reliance on manual processes and strengthened the integrity of travel documentation.

Nandap also highlighted the centralisation of passport personalisation as an important measure for improving the security of passport production.

She added that Nigeria’s participation in the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s Public Key Directory had further enhanced international verification of Nigerian electronic passports.

The NIS said the continued adoption of technology would help Nigeria manage its borders more efficiently while supporting lawful movement, trade and regional integration.

Nandap emphasised that effective border security would increasingly depend on the ability of agencies to combine technology, intelligence and coordinated action against emerging threats.