Nigeria-Benin Border Migration and its Implication for Nigeria’s Security

Abstract

Nigeria national security has been seriously threatened for years back and a lot of factors have been attributed to be the root cause of insecurity in Nigeria. The country is facing a lot of security and economic problem which has been as a result of her borders not well policed. Nigeria and Benin Republic share a lot in common linguistically and racially which explains the dynamism of cross-border migration. This study examines Nigeria-Benin border migration and its implication for Nigeria’s security. The Migration Network Theory was used to anchor the study. With the aid of both primary and secondary methods of data collection, especially from questionnaire and interview together with elicited information from library and official (government) sources, books, journals and internet materials, findings indicate that the nature of border migration between Nigeria-Benin which is characterized by influx of illegal migrants contributed and continued to encourage cross-border crimes, terrorist attacks, drug trafficking, illegal trade such as smuggling of contraband goods like shoes, frozen poultry products, duty non-paid cars and foreign parboiled rice thereby undermining Nigeria’s security. The study recommends that there is need for the government to construct adequate fences, auto-gates or border plazas. This will help to reduce the size of illegal migration, smuggling of goods and trafficking of persons.