Federal lawmakers, top security officials, traditional rulers and senior government representatives — including the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar — on Saturday gathered in Kaduna for a Public Hearing of the North-West Zonal Security Summit, convened amid rising banditry and mass kidnappings across the region.
Organised by the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on National Security, the summit is themed “Building Robust Regional Collaborations to Tackle Insecurity: Pathways for Securing the Future.” Deliberations focused on strengthening inter-agency cooperation to combat terrorism, banditry and kidnappings in the seven North-West states: Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara.
The meeting comes on the heels of fresh attacks, including the abduction of at least 24 students from Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi State, and the kidnapping of over 300 students and staff of St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools, Papiri, Niger State. Authorities say about 50 of the abductees later escaped.
Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, in his address, called for a new security architecture anchored on military capability, community involvement and sustained development. He proposed establishing a North-West Theatre Command that would merge the Army’s 1st and 8th Divisions, saying the unified structure would “enhance coordinated operations and dismantle cross-state criminal networks more effectively.”
He further recommended expanding the Multinational Joint Task Force to cover Nigeria’s border with Niger Republic to curb arms trafficking and block cross-border sanctuaries for criminals.
Sani emphasised that military force alone would not end insecurity, urging the creation of permanent state and local government security committees comprising traditional rulers, religious leaders, women, youth, civil society groups and security agencies. These committees, he noted, would serve as early-warning and conflict-resolution platforms.
He also renewed calls for state police, stressing that Nigeria’s centralised policing system was overstretched, with fewer than 400,000 officers available nationwide.
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Defence Minister Badaru Abubakar assured that the Federal Government remained committed to ending insecurity. He said ongoing joint operations across Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kebbi had reopened key routes and restored economic activity in several communities.
“Farmers in many affected areas are back on their fields with better security support,” he noted, although he acknowledged that lingering threats from bandits and terror cells persist.
Delivering the keynote paper, Prof. Muhammad Isa of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said current responses to insecurity were fragmented and poorly coordinated. He argued for a regional framework that integrates security, governance and development interventions across the North-West.
Chairman of the Organising Committee, Senator Babangida Hussaini, said the summit aims to facilitate frank discussions on the “increasing and alarming” insecurity in the region. He announced that a National Security Summit would hold in Abuja on December 1 to harmonise inputs from across the country, adding that President Bola Tinubu was committed to finding actionable solutions.
He commended Governor Uba Sani for what he described as unprecedented support for the summit.