President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has acknowledged that military operations alone cannot permanently end insecurity in Nigeria’s North Central, ordering a broader strategy that targets the land, water, economic and social pressures driving recurring violence across the region.
Tinubu made the disclosure on Monday in Makurdi, Benue State, while declaring open the 2026 North Central Regional Security Summit.
In a significant shift from a purely security-focused response, the President said lasting peace would require government to confront the conditions that allow violence to take root.
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 major drivers of conflict.
“Force can suppress violence; it cannot resolve the grievances that produce it,” Tinubu said.
The President warned that continuing to deal with the symptoms of insecurity without addressing its underlying causes could leave the country repeatedly confronting the same crisis.
From military operations to development
Tinubu said his administration was combining security operations with economic and development measures designed to reduce the incentives and triggers for violence.
He said the Federal Government was pursuing the transition from open grazing to modern, settled livestock production, while also investing in irrigation, mechanised agriculture, rural roads and access to credit.
According to him, the objective is not only to reduce farmer-herder clashes but also to turn the North Central’s agricultural potential into a source of prosperity and stability.
The President also disclosed that the Defence Ministry’s Reclaiming the Ungoverned Space for Economic Benefits Programme would leverage the experience of retired military personnel to help secure and revive communities recovering from violence.
Tinubu shifts security burden to communities
The President placed a major responsibility on traditional rulers, religious leaders and local communities, asking them to become the government’s first line of early warning against emerging threats.
He said community leaders were uniquely positioned to detect suspicious movements, identify rising tensions and intervene before local disputes escalate into wider violence.
Tinubu urged them to reject inflammatory rhetoric from political, religious and traditional platforms.
He also asked citizens to provide security agencies with information and stop shielding criminals because of family, ethnic or community ties.
‘No more communiqués gathering dust’
In one of the strongest messages of the summit, Tinubu said he did not want the meeting to end with another communiqué that would be forgotten.
He demanded recommendations with clearly assigned responsibilities, implementation timelines and measurable results.
The President directed Defence Minister Christopher Musa to transmit the summit’s outcomes to him and provide reports on their implementation.
“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.
Tinubu also commended security forces for recent gains against terrorists and other criminal groups, including the neutralisation of terrorist commanders, surrender of fighters and rescue of captives.
However, he acknowledged that military successes must be matched with political, economic and community interventions if the North Central is to achieve sustainable peace.
He subsequently declared the 2026 North Central Regional Security Summit open.