From deploying drone technology in healthcare logistics, the Nigerian government has now revealed plans to use the small unmanned aerial vehicles to combat crimes along the country’s borders.

According to a report by the news Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) – an independent body under the supervisory oversight of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning – is planning to deploy drones and other related technology to fight border crimes, like smuggling.

The Public Relations Officer of Customs, Deputy Comptroller Timi Bomodi, told NAN that deploying “technology like drones, non-intrinsic inspection at the borders and a lot of other things that are in the pipeline” would go a long way in helping tackle the smuggling menace.

“If you take everybody that presently works in the military and paramilitary to hold hands across all the borders in Nigeria, you will not be able to come up to ten per cent of all our borders,” Bomodi was quoted as saying.

“That is how huge this country is and how tough the terrain which we operate is. However, we do know that when you introduce technology into the scheme of things, you are going to achieve a lot more.

“It is the technology that will be deployed to support these individuals that will make the kind of impact we know will go a very long way.”

Bomodi further added that, while the NCS planned to expand its human workforce, it is the addition of technological implements to the work done by human personnel that would help the efforts to curb border crimes.

Progress has been made with regard to the modernisation agreement with Chinese technology company Huawei and other technical partners to provide the NCS with the technology it needs to make its fight against smuggling more effective, Bomodi said.

With a landmass of more than 900,000 square kilometres, Nigeria, shares boundaries with 15 countries, which include Niger, Cameroon, the Republic of Benin and the Chad Republic.