The Deputy Minister for the Interior, Hon. Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi has called on West African countries to transform their borders from physical barriers into “intelligent gateways” that balance security, trade and human mobility in the digital age.
Addressing participants at the West Africa Border Security Week in Accra, the Deputy Minister noted that the theme, ‘Intelligent Border Management: Balancing Security, Trade and Mobility in a Digital Age’, is not just a conference topic, but a strategic question for the future of West Africa.
“The same routes used by legitimate travellers and traders may also be exploited by traffickers, smugglers, organised criminal networks and terrorists. We must facilitate the movement of legitimate people and goods while making it increasingly difficult for criminals to exploit our borders. That is the essence of intelligent border management,” he stated.
The Hon. Deputy Minister emphasized that the future of border security must be intelligence-led, technology-driven and interoperable because criminal organisations do not respect borders. They share information, use technology and exploit gaps between institutions.
“Our response must therefore be equally sophisticated. We cannot defeat twenty-first-century criminal networks with fragmented twentieth-century systems,” he added.
Citing Ghana’s progress, Hon. Terlabi said President John Dramani Mahama recently launched the country’s new E-Visa platform to move visa processing from manual procedures to a technology-driven system aimed at improving service delivery and strengthening security.
He also highlighted Ghana’s role in regional integration, noting that Ghana is among seven ECOWAS Member States that have deployed the ECOWAS National Biometric Identity Card. He urged for greater interoperability of systems to enable real-time information sharing across borders.
The Hon. Deputy Minister stressed that security and trade are not competing objectives. “A border that is insecure discourages investment. A border that is unpredictable increases the cost of doing business. The principle should be, make legitimate trade faster and make illicit trade harder,” he added.
“The security of Ghana is inseparable from the security of our neighbours. The prosperity of Ghana is strengthened by the prosperity of our region. Let us move from seeing our borders merely as lines that separate us to seeing them as intelligent gateways that secure, connect, and prosper our region. That is the challenge before us. And that is the future we must build together,” he stated.
The West Africa Border Security Week brought together Ministers, Heads of Immigration, Customs, Police, and Security Agencies, ECOWAS and development partners to chart a new agenda for border management in the region.
