Lagos State University and the Nigerian Immigration Service have called for stronger collaboration among researchers, policymakers, security agencies and border communities to address emerging security challenges and promote socio-cultural integration across African borders.
The call was made on Monday at the 2026 annual conference of the African Borderlands Research Network, held in Ikeja, Lagos, with the theme, “The Connected Borderlands: Socio-Cultural Integration and the Centrality of Policy, Research and Security.”
The conference, co-hosted by LASU and the NIS, brought together scholars, practitioners, policymakers and other stakeholders to examine border management, migration, security, regional integration and the socio-economic realities of border communities.
Speaking at the conference, the Vice-Chancellor of LASU, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, said the gathering was an opportunity to promote research that responds to the realities of Nigeria and Africa, noting that borderlands should be viewed as living spaces where people, cultures, languages, markets and histories intersect.
She said, “The theme invites us to look beyond the border as a line and to see the borderland as a living space where people, cultures, languages, markets, and histories intersect; where national interest meets regional aspirations; and where policy, research, and security must work together.”
