Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has urged governments and security agencies across the North-Central region to adopt a coordinated security strategy to address the growing wave of attacks and insecurity in the geopolitical zone.
Mutfwang made the call on Monday while participating as a panellist at the 2026 North-Central Security Summit held in Makurdi, Benue State.
The summit was organised by the Ministry of Defence in collaboration with the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement, North-Central, to assess the security challenges confronting the region and develop collective solutions.
The governor said the scale and pattern of insecurity in the North-Central had made it necessary for states to move away from isolated responses and embrace a unified, intelligence-driven approach.
He also rejected the tendency to describe the violence in the region solely as farmer-herder clashes, arguing that the nature of attacks in several communities pointed to a more organised security threat.
According to him, the attacks should be treated with the seriousness they deserve, particularly where communities are invaded, residents are displaced and vulnerable populations are deliberately targeted.
Mutfwang said the situation in Plateau State remained a major concern, noting that many displaced persons were still unable to return to their ancestral communities because the security conditions required for safe and sustainable resettlement had not been fully established.
He urged political and community leaders to confront the insecurity crisis with urgency, warning that continued violence would worsen poverty, economic hardship and underdevelopment across the region.
The governor also called for a change in the operational approach of security agencies, urging them to go beyond responding to attacks after they occur.
He said security forces should identify the sources, routes and hideouts of attackers and take proactive measures to dismantle criminal networks.
Mutfwang raised concerns about the use of porous borders and difficult-to-monitor corridors linking Plateau with parts of the North-West, Taraba and Nasarawa states.
He therefore advocated stronger intelligence gathering, greater cooperation among neighbouring states and coordinated security operations to identify and block routes being used by armed groups.
The governor further called on security agencies to intensify operations against criminal elements in their hideouts and prevent them from establishing permanent bases in communities.
He stressed the need for closer cooperation among North-Central states, the military, police and other security agencies, as well as neighbouring regions, to restrict the movement of armed groups across state boundaries.
Mutfwang maintained that insecurity should no longer be regarded as isolated communal disputes or ordinary criminal activity but as a collective threat to Nigeria’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and national security.
Also speaking at the summit, the Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, said the meeting was designed to give government and security stakeholders a clearer understanding of the realities faced by communities across the North-Central.
Musa said the summit would also help stakeholders develop practical and coordinated approaches to tackling the region’s security challenges.
He emphasised that security remained a collective responsibility and commended residents of the North-Central for remaining resilient despite the persistent threats.
The minister reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to strengthening security nationwide and addressing challenges threatening peace, livelihoods and national development.
The summit was attended by several senior government officials, including Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume; Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia; and Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule.
The governors of Kogi and Niger states were represented at the event.
