Tinubu seeks community-based action against insecurity in North Central

President Bola Tinubu has declared that military action alone cannot bring lasting peace to the North-Central region, urging stakeholders to adopt a community-based security strategy to tackle the root causes of violence.

Tinubu gave the charge on Monday at the 2026 North Central Regional Security Summit in Makurdi, Benue State, emphasizing that security architectures must be built from the grassroots upward rather than strictly controlled from Abuja.

Represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, Tinubu challenged regional leaders to move past empty rhetoric and draft practical, measurable blueprints to end banditry, terrorism, and communal clashes

While insisting that the summit must not end with another communiqué that would be forgotten, the President said recommendations from the gathering must have clear responsibilities, timelines and measurable outcomes.

“Nigeria does not need another communiqué to be filed away and forgotten. I expect this gathering to produce clear and practical recommendations, each with an identified owner, a defined timeline and a measurable outcome,” he said.

The summit, organised under the theme, “Collaborative Approaches to Strengthening Security and Regional Stability,” brought together governors and representatives of states in the North Central, security chiefs, traditional and religious leaders, ministers, community representatives, development partners and other stakeholders.

Tinubu said the North Central could not be secured by any single security agency, government or community, noting that criminals did not respect state boundaries.

“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,” he said.

He said criminals moved across local government and state boundaries while responses were sometimes slowed by rivalry, duplication of responsibilities and withholding of information, stressing that such practices must end.

The President said his administration had strengthened collaboration among the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police Force and intelligence agencies, while new platforms and capabilities had been acquired for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

He also said the Federal Government was rebuilding Nigeria’s indigenous defence industry through the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) Act and improving the welfare of security personnel.

Tinubu commended troops and other security personnel for their sacrifices, saying terrorist commanders had been neutralised, thousands of fighters had surrendered, captives freed and normalcy restored to several communities.

He, however, acknowledged that military action alone could not guarantee lasting peace in the North Central.

“Force can suppress violence; it cannot resolve the grievances that produce it,” the President said.

He identified competition over land and water, climate change, desertification, unresolved land-use issues, weak local dispute-resolution mechanisms and the proliferation of illicit weapons as some of the factors fuelling violence.

Tinubu therefore called for a security strategy that combines kinetic operations with development, particularly in agriculture, livestock production, rural infrastructure and economic empowerment.

He said the Federal Government was pursuing the transition from open grazing to modern and settled livestock production through the Ministry of Livestock Development, stressing that the policy was aimed at protecting farmlands, improving pastoral incomes and addressing a major source of farmer-herder conflicts.

The President also cited the Reclaiming the Ungoverned Space for Economic Benefits Programme, which he said would leverage the experience of retired military personnel to secure and revive communities recovering from violence.

He added that investments in irrigation, mechanised agriculture, rural roads and access to credit under the Renewed Hope Agenda were designed to transform the region’s vulnerabilities into economic opportunities.

Addressing traditional rulers and religious leaders, Tinubu urged them to serve as the first line of early warning and trusted voices of reconciliation in their communities.

“You know your communities intimately. You know when a stranger arrives, when a young man falls into bad company, and when a quarrel between two families is about to become a conflict between two peoples,” he said.

He also urged them to reject inflammatory rhetoric, warning that careless statements about ethnic, religious and communal differences had caused considerable damage to the country.

The President called on citizens, particularly young people and women, to cooperate with security agencies by providing timely information and refusing to shield criminals because of kinship or sentiment.

He said his administration was committed to creating opportunities that would make criminality and violence less attractive to young people.

Tinubu also called on development partners and the private sector to invest in the region, stressing that peace and economic development were mutually reinforcing.