By Terdue Atondu, Makurdi
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has charged stakeholders in the North Central region to intensify collective efforts with government and security agencies to tackle insecurity and build sustainable peace across the region.
Tinubu said military operations alone could not guarantee lasting peace, stressing that the underlying social, economic and environmental factors driving violent conflicts must also be addressed.
The President spoke on Monday while declaring open the 2026 North Central Regional Security Summit in Makurdi, Benue State. He was represented at the event by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, CON.
The summit, themed “Collaborative Approaches to Strengthening Security and Regional Stability,” brought together governors, ministers, security chiefs, traditional and religious leaders, civil society organisations, women, youths, development partners and private sector representatives.
Tinubu maintained that insecurity transcended state boundaries and institutional mandates, making collaboration among governments, security agencies and communities imperative.
“No single agency, no single tier of government and no single community can secure this region acting alone.
“Insecurity does not respect state boundaries or agency mandates. Criminals move freely across local government areas while our responses are too often slowed by rivalry, duplication and the withholding of information. That must end.”
The President called on traditional and religious leaders to serve as the first line of early warning and trusted voices of reconciliation within their communities.
He urged them to identify emerging threats, prevent disputes from escalating and reject inflammatory rhetoric capable of deepening ethnic, religious or communal divisions.
“To our revered traditional rulers and religious leaders, you hold an authority that no uniform confers. You know your communities intimately,” Tinubu said.
“I ask you to be our first line of early warning and our most trusted voice of reconciliation.”
He also appealed to citizens to provide timely intelligence to security agencies and stop shielding criminals because of family, ethnic or communal affiliations.
“Security begins with you. I call on every citizen to share information with the security agencies, to refuse to shield criminality out of kinship or sentiment, and to resist those who would recruit our sons into violence for a handful of naira,” he said.
The President said his administration had continued to strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture through improved coordination among the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police Force and intelligence services, alongside the acquisition of new military platforms and capabilities.
He added that the government was rebuilding the country’s indigenous defence industry through the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) Act while improving the welfare of security personnel to enhance their effectiveness.
Tinubu commended troops, police officers and other security personnel for the progress recorded against terrorists and other criminal groups, including the neutralisation of terrorist commanders, surrender of fighters, rescue of captives and restoration of normalcy in some affected communities.
He also paid tribute to personnel who had lost their lives while defending communities across the North Central.
However, the President warned that military action could only suppress violence and not necessarily resolve the grievances that fuel it.
“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.
He identified competition over land and water, climate change, desertification, unresolved land-use disputes, weak local conflict-resolution mechanisms and the proliferation of illicit weapons as some of the factors sustaining insecurity in the region.
According to him, the Federal Government would continue to combine kinetic operations with development initiatives aimed at addressing the root causes of conflict.
Tinubu cited the Federal Government’s livestock development programme and its transition from open grazing to modern, settled livestock production as part of efforts to protect farmlands, improve pastoral livelihoods and reduce conflicts between farmers and herders.
He also mentioned the Reclaiming the Ungoverned Space for Economic Benefits Programme of the Ministry of Defence, which seeks to deploy the experience of retired military personnel in securing and revitalising communities recovering from violence.
The President said investments in irrigation, mechanised agriculture, rural roads and access to credit under the Renewed Hope Agenda would help transform the region’s vulnerabilities into economic opportunities.
He further called on women to occupy a central position in peace-building efforts, while assuring youths that the government was committed to creating economic opportunities and livelihoods that would make criminality less attractive.
“To our women, who bear the heaviest burden of every conflict and yet remain the most effective peacebuilders in every community, your place is not at the margins of this conversation but at its centre,” he said.
“And to our young people, your energy is this region’s greatest asset. This administration is committed to expanding the opportunities that make a rifle a far less attractive prospect than a livelihood.”
Tinubu also urged development partners and the private sector to increase investments in the North Central, describing the region as an area of significant economic potential rather than merely a destination for assistance.
“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, Gen. Christopher Gwabin Musa (Rtd), OFR, to transmit the outcomes of the summit to him and provide a report on the implementation of its recommendations.
He cautioned participants against producing another communiqué that would eventually be “filed away and forgotten,” insisting that every recommendation must have an identified responsibility, timeline and measurable outcome.
“I expect this gathering to produce clear and practical recommendations, each with an identified owner, a defined timeline and a measurable outcome.
“We will be judged not by the quality of our deliberations here, but by whether a farmer in this region sleeps more soundly a year from now,” he said.
Tinubu commended the Ministry of Defence and the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement, North Central, for organising the summit.
The Makurdi meeting is the second in a series of regional security engagements, following the South East Regional Security Summit held in Umuahia, Abia State, on July 30, 2026.
He said the regional summits reflected his administration’s conviction that Nigeria’s security must be built from the communities upwards, rather than exclusively from Abuja.
The President also commended the Benue State Government and people for hosting the summit and praised the resilience of North Central communities confronting security challenges.
He urged all participants to engage frankly and constructively and produce practical solutions capable of improving security, strengthening peace and unlocking the region’s economic potential.
