Military Action Alone Won’t End North Central Insecurity, Tinubu Warns …Tasks traditional rulers, communities, youths, others on collective action

“No single agency, no single tier of government and no single community can secure this region acting alone." Tinubu

.... Says "Insecurity does not respect state boundaries or agency mandates."

Nigeria's President, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu has warned that military action alone cannot bring lasting peace to the North Central, urging traditional rulers, religious leaders, communities, youths, women, the private sector and development partners to join government and security agencies in tackling the root causes of insecurity in the region.

Tinubu, who spoke yesterday at the 2026 North Central Regional Security Summit in Makurdi, Benue State, also directed stakeholders to move beyond deliberations and produce practical, measurable solutions capable of improving security across the region.

The President, represented at the summit by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume, said insecurity transcended state boundaries and institutional mandates, making collaboration and timely intelligence-sharing imperative.

He said: “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.”

Tinubu said his administration had strengthened the nation’s security architecture through improved collaboration among the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police Force and intelligence services, while also providing new platforms and advanced capabilities for the military.

He noted that the administration was equally rebuilding Nigeria’s indigenous defence industry through the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) Act and improving the welfare of troops to enhance their effectiveness.

While commending the security agencies for recent gains against terrorists and other criminal elements, the President stressed that sustainable peace required more than kinetic operations.

“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 driving violent conflicts in the region.

Tinubu said the Federal Government would therefore continue to combine military operations with development initiatives, including efforts by the Ministry of Livestock Development to transition from open grazing to modern livestock production.

According to him, 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.

The President tasked traditional and religious leaders to play a more prominent role in preventing conflicts, describing them as strategically positioned to detect threats at the grassroots and promote reconciliation.

“I ask you to be our first line of early warning and our most trusted voice of reconciliation,” he told the traditional and religious leaders.

He also urged communities to stop shielding criminals on the basis of kinship or sentiment and to provide security agencies with timely intelligence.

“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,” he said.

Tinubu further called for greater involvement of women and youths in peace-building, stressing that economic empowerment was critical to preventing young people from being recruited into criminality.

He assured youths that his administration remained committed to expanding opportunities and creating livelihoods that would make violent groups less attractive.

The President also urged development partners and the private sector to increase investments in the North Central, arguing that economic development was an essential component of 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.

Tinubu directed the Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), to transmit the outcome of the summit to him and report on the implementation of its recommendations.

He warned 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.

The summit, themed “Collaborative Approaches to Strengthening Security and Regional Stability,” brought together governors, ministers, service chiefs, traditional and religious leaders, civil society organisations, women, youths and private-sector representatives.

It is the second in a series of regional security engagements initiated by the Federal Government, following the South-East Regional Security Summit held in Umuahia, Abia State, on July 30, 2026.

Tinubu said the regional engagements reflected his administration’s conviction that Nigeria’s security must be built from the communities upwards, rather than exclusively from Abuja.

He commended the government and people of Benue State for hosting the summit and urged participants to engage candidly and focus on practical solutions to the security challenges confronting the North Central.