Nigeria discusses joint border patrols with Chad, Cameroon

Nigeria is holding discussions with its eastern neighbours, Chad and Cameroon, on setting up joint patrols to police their common borders so as to combat crime, police chief Tafa Balogun said.

Balogun told reporters in the northeastern city of Yola on Friday that the Nigerian authorities were deeply concerned about the growing menace of cross-border banditry in the northeast. He said security surveys conducted by the police had revealed that cooperation with neighbouring countries was essential to deal with the problem.

"We are aware of the criminals from neighbouring countries who come into our country," he said. "Many of our people have died from the bullets of these criminals."

Nigeria already has a joint border patrol with its western neighbour, Benin. Such collaboration has been effective in arresting robbers and curtailing the smuggling of light weapons and ammunitions across their borders, police officials said.

Apart from Benin, Chad and Cameroon, Nigeria also shares an extensive border with the Republic of Niger in the north.

But cross-border security cooperation with Cameroon will have to overcome a bitter border dispute over the ownership of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula, which juts into the Atlantic Ocean, and some areas around Lake Chad in the north.

The dispute is currently awaiting the adjudication of the International Court of Justice at The Hague in the Netherlands. [ENDS]