THUR AUG 20 2026-theGBJournal| Nigeria’s police chief IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu has called for a coordinated security strategy across the north-west, as persistent banditry, kidnappings and arms trafficking continue to expose the limits of state-by-state responses to insecurity in one of the country’s most troubled regions.
Disu made the call at a security summit in Gusau, Zamfara state, bringing together governors, traditional rulers, security chiefs, development partners and civil society groups to address the region’s worsening security challenges.
The summit comes against the backdrop of an increasingly interconnected security threat in the north-west, where criminal groups can operate across state boundaries, exploit porous borders and draw on networks involved in arms supply, intelligence and financing.
That makes fragmented responses less effective and increases the importance of intelligence sharing and joint operations.
Disu argued that no single security agency, state government or institution can secure the region on its own. He called for stronger inter-state cooperation, coordinated operations, improved border controls and intelligence-led policing, alongside more effective early-warning systems.
The police chief also placed greater emphasis on communities and traditional institutions, arguing that local knowledge can provide critical intelligence for identifying criminal networks and preventing attacks before they occur.
His intervention reflects a shift in the security debate from responding to individual attacks towards disrupting the networks that sustain insecurity across the region.
The IGP urged authorities to target not only armed criminals but also their sponsors, arms suppliers, informants and other facilitators.
He warned against ethnic and religious profiling, stressing that criminal organisations should be pursued on the basis of their activities rather than identity or affiliation.
“Criminality has no ethnicity and terrorism has no religion,” Disu said, urging stakeholders to avoid narratives that could deepen communal tensions while obscuring the networks behind violence.
For the north-west, the distinction is important. Banditry, kidnapping, communal conflict, farmer-herder tensions and arms proliferation increasingly overlap, making security threats harder to address through conventional policing alone.
The police chief said the Nigeria Police Force would expand its focus on intelligence-led and technology-driven operations, rapid response and closer collaboration with other security agencies and communities.
But the success of the summit will ultimately depend on whether its discussions translate into operational coordination.
Previous security initiatives have often faced challenges over intelligence sharing, institutional rivalry, inadequate resources and weak implementation across state boundaries.
Disu therefore challenged participants at the three-day summit to produce measurable resolutions capable of improving security, protecting vulnerable communities and restoring public confidence.
The stakes are high for the region’s economies as well as its security. Persistent violence can disrupt farming, restrict movement, undermine local commerce and discourage investment, while insecurity in one state can quickly spill across neighbouring jurisdictions.
The Gusau summit consequently puts the emphasis on a regional security architecture rather than isolated state responses — an approach that recognises that the criminal networks threatening the north-west do not respect the administrative boundaries within which Nigeria’s security institutions operate.
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