Nigeria Must Restore Tollgates and Deploy Technology to Improve Highway Security, Musa Says

Nigeria’s Defence Minister, retired General Christopher Musa, called for restoring tollgates on major highways and using technology to identify and track vehicles without requiring drivers to stop for manual payments. Speaking at a roundtable in Abuja, he also urged stronger identification systems using personal identification numbers, facial recognition and fingerprints. Musa said the 2026 federal budget allocated ₦5.4 trillion to defence and that 12,000 additional military personnel would be recruited; he also reported that security forces killed more than 300 terrorists and bandits in operations the previous week. He identified porous borders as a major challenge and said Nigeria was strengthening border security and cooperation with neighbouring countries.