Analysing the Nigerian Immigration Service’s Border Management Capacity: A Professional Assessment of the North West Corridor

This study undertakes a professional assessment of the Nigerian Immigration Service's border management capacity along the North West corridor, covering key border posts in Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara states. The porous nature of Nigeria's land borders, especially in the North West zone, has facilitated the movement of arms, trafficked persons, and irregular migrants, with serious implications for national security and public policy. Drawing on border governance theory and recent migration security literature from 2019 to 2024, the study employs a practitioner research design. Data are gathered from Nigerian Immigration Service border post managers, Customs officials, security intelligence officers, and border community leaders through professional interviews and operational records review. Qualitative content analysis and institutional capacity assessment frameworks are applied. The study expects to find significant gaps in personnel deployment ratios per kilometre of border, absence of real-time surveillance technology, inadequate inter-agency data sharing, and poor logistical support for border patrol units. It also examines regional cross-border coordination frameworks with Niger and Benin Republics under the ECOWAS free movement protocol. Recommendations address deploying integrated border management systems, increasing the cadre of trained immigration intelligence officers, formalising inter-agency coordination protocols, and engaging border communities as partners in monitoring irregular cross-border activity. Keywords: border management, immigration service, North West Nigeria, migration governance, national security