“Kill One Terrorist, 20 Will Enter”: Interior Minister Decries Border Neglect, Systemic Security Failure

Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has issued a scathing critique of the country’s security framework, warning that killing terrorists is meaningless if the nation’s borders remain wide open and underfunded.

Speaking in a video seen by SaharaReporters on Tuesday, the minister lambasted the 2025 budget allocation for border protection as grossly inadequate.

“The entire capital budget of the Nigerian Immigration Service is less than ₦10 billion, and we want to protect 4,024km of border. Are we joking?” Tunji-Ojo said.

He added:

“When you kill one terrorist and the borders are porous, 20 more will walk in. The military is overstretched. We must be realistic with ourselves.”

The minister also criticized the country’s flawed perception of internal security, which leans excessively on the military instead of intelligence agencies like the DSS.

“We have brilliant people in the DSS, but the fact that Nigerians first think of the military for internal security is proof that the system has failed.”

On policing, he questioned why the Nigeria Police Force remains dependent on capital budget releases in a country of over 240 million people.

“Why should our police even rely on budgetary allocations? You expect efficiency when law enforcement waits on capital release to operate?”

Tunji-Ojo’s remarks come just days after a devastating attack in Benue State, where heavily armed assailants, suspected to be herders, stormed a community in Guma LGA.

According to Governor Hyacinth Alia, the attackers infiltrated the state via a nearby river, ambushed military and police checkpoints, and then descended on civilians. The confrontation lasted two hours before they were repelled and fled towards Nasarawa State.

“They came in large numbers through the river,” Alia said in an Arise News interview. “First, they attacked the military and police. They were pushed back but returned in huge numbers.”

The governor’s account aligns with the minister’s warning — that porous borders and inadequate border security allow armed groups to freely infiltrate and wreak havoc across Nigerian communities.