Federal lawmakers, top security chiefs, traditional rulers and senior government officials, including the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, on Saturday converged on Kaduna for a Public Hearing of the North-West Zonal Security Summit as banditry and mass abductions escalate across the region.
The summit, convened by the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on National Security, is themed “Building Robust Regional Collaborations to Tackle Insecurity: Pathways for Securing the Future.”
Discussions are centred on strengthening inter-agency cooperation to curb terrorism, banditry and kidnappings, especially across the seven states of the North-West — Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara.
In recent times, fresh waves of attacks, including mass school abductions, have heightened public concern.
Last week, armed men invaded the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga in Kebbi State, abducting at least 24 students and killing a vice-principal who attempted to resist.
Days later, over 300 students and staff were seized after gunmen stormed St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri, Niger State. About 50 of them later escaped, according to authorities.
Participants at the summit included Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, members of the Senate Committee on National Security, retired military and police chiefs, and traditional rulers, as well as civil society organisations from across the zone.
Governor Uba Sani, in his address, called for a new security architecture built on “military strength, community engagement, and long-term development.”
He proposed the creation of a North-West Theatre Command that would merge the Army’s 1st and 8th Divisions under a unified structure.
According to him, “this will accelerate intelligence sharing, enhance coordinated operations, and dismantle cross-state criminal networks more effectively.”
The governor also recommended expanding the Multinational Joint Task Force to cover Nigeria’s border with the Niger Republic.
“This expansion will disrupt arms trafficking routes, deny criminals cross-border sanctuaries, and weaken the networks that sustain their operations,” he said.
However, he warned that military operations alone would not end the crisis.
“Community trust and participation are indispensable,” Sani added, proposing permanent security committees at state and local levels comprising traditional rulers, religious leaders, women, youth groups, civil society and security agencies.
These committees, he said, would function as early-warning systems and conflict-resolution platforms.
Governor Sani renewed his call for state police, arguing that Nigeria’s centralised policing structure was overstretched.
“With fewer than 400,000 police officers nationwide, many rural communities are left without meaningful protection,” he said.
Defence Minister, Badaru Abubakar, while speaking, assured that the administration remained committed to ending insecurity.
“The president’s directive is to establish a strong yet adaptive national security architecture to eradicate these threats,” he said.
“We are committed to ensuring that such violations of the rights of our children and threats to our development goals do not occur again.”
The minister noted that despite ongoing challenges, security operations had recorded progress in several states.
He said joint operations across Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kebbi had reopened critical routes, improving movement on the Kaduna–Kachia, Kaduna–Birnin Gwari, and Jibia–Gurbin Baure corridors.
Abubakar added that markets in Kaura Namoda, Shinkafi, Batsari, Giwa and Kajuru had witnessed increased activity, while displaced communities had started returning.
“Likewise, farmers in many affected communities are back on their fields with better security support,” he said, noting that some schools previously shut due to insecurity had reopened before recent attacks.
He admitted, however, that “the North-West continues to face lingering threats from bandits, terror cells and organised criminal networks despite the relentless efforts of our troops.”
In a keynote paper, Prof. Muhammad Isa of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said current approaches to security had failed because they were fragmented and poorly coordinated.
According to him, “even where tactical gains occur, they fail to translate into sustainable peace because structural drivers of insecurity remain unaddressed.”
He argued for a regional collaboration framework capable of integrating security, governance and development responses across the North-West.
Earlier, Chairman, Organising Committee of the Summit, Senator Babangida Hussaini, said the summit was designed to allow stakeholders “frankly discuss the increasing and alarming rates of insecurity in our zone and the nation at large.”
He announced that a National Security Summit would be held in Abuja on December 1, where the views gathered from across the country would be harmonised.
“This is a testament that Mr President is not leaving any stone unturned in the search for actionable solutions to this national emergency,” Hussaini said.
He commended Governor Uba Sani for what he described as unprecedented support towards the success of the summit.
