‘Military force alone won’t work’ — Uba Sani advocates integrated security model to end banditry in north-west

Uba Sani, governor of Kaduna, says the fight against insecurity in the north-west cannot be won through military action alone.

Speaking on Saturday at the public hearing of the north-west zonal security summit organised by the senate ad hoc committee on national security in Kaduna, Sani called for an integrated approach that combines force, community engagement and long-term development.

He said the region needs a security structure that reflects the scale and complexity of its challenges.

The governor called for the creation of a north-west theatre command that would bring the Nigerian Army’s 1st and 8th divisions under a unified command structure.

According to him, “this will accelerate intelligence sharing, enhance coordinated operations, and dismantle cross-state criminal networks more effectively.”

Sani also recommended expanding the multinational joint task force (MNJTF) to cover Nigeria’s borders with the Republic of Niger, saying the model has recorded “notable success” in the Lake Chad Basin.

“This expansion will disrupt arms trafficking routes, deny criminals cross-border sanctuaries, and weaken the networks that sustain their operations,” he said.

The governor added that firepower alone cannot resolve the crisis, stressing that community participation remains central to any sustainable security framework.

He proposed the establishment of permanent security committees at state and local government levels, comprising traditional rulers, religious leaders, women’s groups, youth organisations, civil society and security agencies.

According to him, the committees “will serve as early-warning systems, conflict-resolution platforms, and bridges of trust between citizens and the state.”

Sani further advocated for the creation of state police, arguing that Nigeria’s centralised policing model is overstretched.

“With fewer than 400,000 police officers nationwide, many rural communities are left without meaningful protection,” he said.

Mohammed Badaru, minister of defence, said the federal government remains committed to restoring stability across the country.

The minister reaffirmed President Bola Tinubu’s directive to establish “a strong, yet adaptive, national security architecture to eradicate these threats”.

“The president’s directive is to establish a strong, yet adaptive, national security architecture to eradicate these threats,” he said.

“Accordingly, we are committed to ensuring that such violations of the rights of our children and threats to our development goals do not occur again.

“Joint operations across Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kebbi have reopened key routes. Movement on Kaduna-Kachia, Kaduna-Birnin Gwari, Jibia-Gurbin Baure and parts of the Sokoto-Illela corridor has improved.”

He added that markets in Kaura Namoda, Shinkafi, Batsari, Giwa and Kajuru now “record higher activity”, noting that many displaced villagers have returned.

“Similarly, in the last two years before the recent incidents, many schools that closed due to insecurity have resumed academic activity under strengthened protection,” the minister said.

“Likewise, farmers in many affected communities are back on their fields with better security support.”

Badaru acknowledged that “the Northwest continues to face lingering threats from bandits, terror cells and organised criminal networks despite the relentless efforts of our troops and other agencies.”

Muhammad Isa, a professor of public administration at the Ahmadu Bello University, said current security strategies are limited by fragmentation, weak coordination, overstretched institutions and inconsistent policies.

“Even where tactical gains occur, they fail to translate into sustainable peace because structural drivers of insecurity remain unaddressed,” Isa said.

He added that the region needs “a robust regional collaboration platform capable of harmonising strategies, integrating multi-level actors, and addressing both immediate threats and long-term governance and development challenges.”

Isa called for coordinated regional action to address the mobility of armed groups, the spread of bandit enclaves, inconsistent policy environments and the humanitarian spillovers from prolonged violence.

Earlier, Babangida Hussaini, chairman of the organising committee, said the summit was convened “to bring together stakeholders in the zone to frankly discuss the increasing and alarming rates of insecurity in our zone and the nation at large”.

He added that a national security summit will be held in Abuja on December 1 “to provide a platform for collating the aggregate views of Nigerians on the pathways for securing our people and the country”.