ABORNE 2026: Policy, research, security pivotal to drive borderlands as living places — LASU VC, Prof Olatunji-Bello
In a collaborative efforts between town and gown to enhance land border management, the Lagos State University (LASU), in partnership with the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), have commenced the African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE) Conference 2026.The event which took off on Monday, August 24, 2026 with the theme: “The Connected Borderlands, Socio-Cultural Integration, and the Centrality of Policy, Research, and Security”, at the Lagos Marriott Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, would come to an end on Friday, 28th August, 2026.
The conference brought together researchers, policymakers, security professionals, academics and other stakeholders to explore contemporary issues surrounding borderlands, integration, policy, research and security.
Speaking, the Vice Chancellor, the Lagos State University (LASU,) Professor Ibiyemi Ibilola Olatunji-Bello stated that Policy, research, security must come together to drive borderlands as living places.
She stated that for Lagos State University, the gathering is much more than the hosting of an international academic conference, she said, “It is an affirmation of our University’s commitment to producing knowledge that responds to the realities of our country, our continent and its development. We are particularly delighted to welcome ABORNE to Nigeria. We take pride in the fact that LASU and the Nigeria Immigration Service are co-hosting this conference for the first time in Nigeria since the organisation was founded in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, in 2007.”
She added that since its foundation in 2007, ABORNE has grown into an important international interdisciplinary network connecting scholars and practitioners interested in the complex realities of African borders and borderlands, adding that its meetings across Europe and Africa have created spaces where historians, geographers, anthropologists, cultural workers, political scientists, migration scholars, policymakers and practitioners can engage across disciplinary boundaries.
She said Lagos is eminently qualified to play host to discussion on Connected borderlands. “Lagos is an appropriate setting for this conversation. Lagos has always been a city of connections — a meeting point of peoples, cultures, commerce and ideas. Its strategic position along the Lagos–Abidjan Corridor further underscores its importance within West Africa’s ecosystems of movement, trade and regional integration.”
On the significance of ABORNE to LASU she said, “For Lagos State University, therefore, borderlands are not a distant academic subject. They are part of the environment within which we live, teach, research and serve society. Our commitment is also reflected in the establishment of our Bachelor of Arts programme in Border and Migration Studies. We recognise that Africa needs a new generation of scholars and professionals who understand that borders are not merely questions of territorial sovereignty. They are also questions of people, livelihoods, identity, security, development and human mobility.
“The University must therefore do more than observe these realities. It must help to understand them, interrogate them and contribute to shaping the policies and practices that govern them. This is why our partnership with the Nigeria Immigration Service, our co-host for this conference, as well as our partnerships with the other agencies , is so important,” the VC stated.
She further said that the partnership between the University and the institution responsible for managing immigration and migration matters is both symbolic and practical. “It reminds us that the border cannot be adequately understood from the classroom alone. Equally, it cannot be effectively managed without knowledge. Research needs practice. Practice needs research. And both need policy. That is the triangle within which meaningful border governance must operate.”
She said, across Africa, borders often separate states while connecting communities. Families live on different sides of boundaries. Languages and cultures cross frontiers. Traders, farmers, pastoralists and transport workers move through networks that existed long before many modern borders were drawn.
“Therefore, policy, research and security must come together. None can function effectively in isolation.
By hosting this conference, we want our University to be a place where knowledge does not merely accumulate but travels — from the classroom to government, from research to policy, from Nigeria to Africa, and from Africa to the wider world.
“I therefore hope that this conference will produce more than papers and proceedings. Let it produce partnerships. Let it produce research that informs policy. Let it strengthen the relationship between universities and practitioners. Let it contribute to more effective and secure approaches to migration and border governance. Let it unite peoples and cultures. Let it promote prosperity in Africa,” she said.
