Benue, Plateau governors seek regional approach to North-central insecurity

Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, and his Benue counterpart, Hyacinth Alia, have called for stronger regional cooperation and community-based security measures to address insecurity across Nigeria’s North-central region.

The governors made the call on Monday at the North Central Regional Security Summit in Makurdi, organised by the Federal Ministry of Defence and the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement, in partnership with the Benue State Government.

The summit, held at the New Banquet Hall of the Benue State Government House, brought together the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, who represented President Bola Tinubu, governors and representatives from states in the region, security and intelligence chiefs, traditional and religious leaders, community leaders and other stakeholders.

Themed “Collaborative Approaches to Strengthening Security and Regional Stability,” the summit focused on banditry, terrorism, farmer-herder conflicts, kidnapping, organised crime and violent extremism spillovers affecting communities across the region.

Mutfwang seeks coordinated response

Mr Mutfwang said the scale of insecurity required states to move beyond isolated responses and adopt a coordinated, intelligence-driven regional strategy.

He said describing the violence merely as farmer-herder clashes failed to capture the nature of attacks recorded in several communities.

The governor described the attacks as an invasion of communities and a threat to national sovereignty, particularly where residents were deliberately displaced from their ancestral homes.

“Leaders must confront insecurity with honesty and a sense of urgency because of its effects on poverty, economic deprivation and development,” he said.

“Security agencies must move beyond reactionary responses and trace attackers to their sources and routes.”

Mr Mutfwang said armed attackers had exploited routes linking parts of the North-west with Taraba and Nasarawa states to enter Plateau, citing porous borders and difficult-to-monitor corridors.

He called for stronger intelligence gathering, inter-state cooperation and coordinated security operations to identify and disrupt such routes.

The governor also urged security agencies to dislodge criminal groups from their hideouts and prevent them from establishing permanent footholds in communities.

He said many displaced persons in Plateau remained unable to return home because the security conditions required for safe and sustainable resettlement had not been fully established.

Alia calls for community intelligence

Mr Alia, who hosted the summit, called for a security strategy that gives greater attention to traditional rulers, border communities and other local actors who can provide early warning information.

“The moment we set aside our differences to confront the enemy of insecurity, half the battle is already won,” he said.

READ ALSO: Benue governor rejects federal government’s ranching plan, says state’s land not for herders

The governor said military deployments alone could not provide a lasting solution to insecurity and called for greater community engagement and intelligence sharing.

He also urged stakeholders to address the socioeconomic conditions that could drive crime, including poverty and idleness.

According to him, the North-central’s importance to Nigeria’s food supply and mineral resources makes its security a national concern.

“When the North-central is insecure, it is not only our problem; the whole country feels it on its dining table,” Mr Alia said.

He said he pushed for Benue to host the summit because of the longstanding security challenges along the Benue-Plateau axis.

Mr Alia urged participants to ensure that the summit produced practical and lasting institutional measures rather than resolutions that would not be implemented.

Region’s strategic importance

The summit organisers said the meeting was intended to localise security responses by bringing government and security agencies closer to communities affected by violence.

Mr Alia said the North-central region’s agricultural and mineral resources made it critical to Nigeria’s economic stability.

“Our farmers feed Nigeria. Our lands produce the food that sustains millions of families across the country,” he said.

Mr Mutfwang similarly said insecurity should be treated as a collective threat to the country’s territorial integrity and development rather than as isolated communal disputes.