Tinubu Seeks Collective Action Against Insecurity in North Central

President Bola Tinubu has called on traditional and religious leaders, women and youths in the North Central zone to strengthen collaboration with government and security agencies to tackle insecurity and build lasting peace.
Tinubu made the call at the 2026 North Central Regional Security Summit in Makurdi.
Represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. George Akume, Tinubu said traditional and religious leaders must strengthen early-warning mechanisms and serve as trusted voices for reconciliation in their communities.
He also urged citizens to provide timely intelligence to security agencies and reject the practice of shielding criminals because of kinship, ethnicity or other sentiments.
Tinubu said insecurity transcends state boundaries and institutional mandates, making collaboration among security agencies, governments and communities imperative.
“No single agency, no single tier of government and no single community can secure this region acting alone,” he said.
The president said his administration had strengthened the nation’s security architecture through enhanced collaboration among the Armed Forces, police and intelligence services.
He also said new military platforms and advanced capabilities had been acquired, while efforts were ongoing to rebuild Nigeria’s indigenous defence industry through the DICON Act.
Tinubu commended the security agencies for the gains against terrorists and other criminal elements, including the neutralisation of commanders, surrender of fighters and rescue of captives.
He, however, said military action alone can not guarantee sustainable peace, stressing the need to address the social, economic and environmental factors driving insecurity.
“Military action alone will not deliver lasting peace to the North Central. Force can suppress violence; it cannot resolve the grievances that produce it,” he said.
The president identified competition over land and water, climate change, desertification, unresolved land-use issues, weak dispute-resolution mechanisms and illicit weapons as drivers of violent conflicts.
He said the Federal Government would continue to combine kinetic operations with development interventions, including modern livestock production, irrigation, mechanised agriculture, rural roads and access to credit.
Tinubu urged women and youths to take central roles in peace-building, describing young people as the region’s greatest asset.
He also called on development partners and the private sector to increase investment in the region, noting that employment and economic opportunities were essential to sustainable security.
“Peace and investment reinforce one another. Every factory built, every farm expanded and every young person employed in this region is a contribution to its security,” he said.
The president directed the Minister of Defence, retired Gen. Christopher Musa, to transmit the summit’s recommendation to him.
“I expect this gathering to produce clear and practical recommendations, each with an identified owner, a defined timeline and a measurable outcome,” he said.
Tinubu said the success of the Summit would ultimately be measured by whether people in the North Central experienced greater security and peace.
The president commended the Government and people of Benue for hosting the summit and praised the resilience of North Central communities confronting security challenges.
He said the regional engagements reflected his administration’s conviction that Nigeria’s security must be built from communities upwards, rather than exclusively from Abuja.
In his remarks, Benue State Governot Hyacinth Alia called for a collaborative security strategy to tackle banditry, kidnapping, farmer-herder conflicts and organised crime in the North Central geopolitical zone.
Alia said the summit’s theme, “Collaborative Approaches to Strengthening Security and Regional Stability“, was timely, given the security challenges confronting communities across the region.
He said the multidimensional nature of insecurity required coordinated action by governments, security agencies, traditional institutions, community leaders and other stakeholders.
According to him, setting aside differences to confront insecurity would significantly improve the region’s chances of defeating the challenge.
“Collaboration cannot just live in communiques. It must reach our traditional institutions and our community leaders, the custodians of our land.
“They know things we do not know. They hear things before we hear them. Any strategy that leaves them out is, frankly, incomplete,” he said.
Alia noted that the North Central’s ethnic diversity should be a source of strength rather than division.
He said the region’s cultural heritage was fundamentally oriented toward peace, stressing that insecurity in the zone had consequences for the entire country.
The governor described the region as strategically important to Nigeria’s socioeconomic development because of its agricultural, mineral and other economic resources.
“When the North Central is insecure, it is not only our problem; the whole country feels it on its dining table,” he said.
Alia said Benue and other North Central states played critical roles in feeding the nation, adding that securing the region was essential to national food security.
He commended the Ministry of Defence and the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement for organising the summit.
The governor said the initiative would help localise security efforts through intelligence sharing, engagement with border communities and stronger community-level peacebuilding mechanisms.
He also stressed the need to address poverty and idleness, which, according to him, could be exploited by hostile elements to recruit.
The 2026 North Central Regional Security Summit is the second in a series of regional security engagements, following the South-East Regional Security Summit held in Umuahia on July 30.