Rakiya A.Muhammad
In Sokoto, the cost of insecurity is counted not only in abductions and deaths, but in the homes, farms, markets and classrooms that violence empties. At a gathering convened by the Sokoto Advancement Forum (SAF) and the Centre for Peace Studies at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, stakeholders came together around a central question: how to reverse the situation and restore peace.
Security experts, academics, traditional leaders, women’s groups, civil society representatives and government officials met on a non-partisan platform to examine the crisis and propose a way forward. Their discussion centred on one core point: restoring peace requires more than force, and must also address trust, livelihoods, the role of women and mothers, and coordinated action.
The human cost behind the figures
Prof. Riskuwa Arabu Shehu, SAF vice-chairman, cited an SBM Intelligence study covering July 2024 to June 2025. It recorded at least 4,722 people abducted in 997 kidnapping incidents and at least 762 people killed. Kidnappers reportedly demanded about ₦48 billion in ransom and collected an estimated ₦2.57 billion.
“The North-West accounted for more than 60 per cent of reported kidnapping incidents nationwide,” he said. “Sokoto recorded 358 abductions over that period, making it among the highest in the country, behind Zamfara, Kaduna and Katsina.”
Conflict monitoring data show how widely violence has spread across the state. Between January 2024 and August 2025, security incidents were recorded in 21 of Sokoto’s 23 local government areas. Sabon Birni recorded 102 incidents, followed by Isa with 39, Tangaza with 23, Goronyo with 20 and Rabah with 19, according to ACLED data cited by the European Union Agency for Asylum.
Behind those numbers, Shehu said, is a deepening humanitarian emergency. By February 2025, more than 580,000 people—most of them women and children—had been displaced across Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara, the three worst-affected North-West states.
He recalled the 2024 abduction and killing of the Emir of Gobir on the Sokoto–Sabon Birni road, mass abductions in Tangaza and Isa in mid-2025, and repeated raids in which villages have been attacked and residents killed or forced to flee.
A memory of peace, and a changing threat
SAF Chairman Amb. Prof. Mohammad Ahmad Wali, OON, remembered a different Sokoto: a state whose relative peace allowed farms, markets and schools to flourish.
“In the early 1980s, I served as a senior officer in the Security Division of the Cabinet Office here in Sokoto, now known as Special Services,” he recalled. “In those days, Sokoto was known as one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria, and that peace lasted through the 1980s and 1990s.”
Today, he said, banditry, kidnapping and attacks on farming communities threaten lives, livelihoods, education, trade and the authority of government itself.
The threat is also changing. Wali warned that armed groups in some areas control territory and force villagers to pay “taxes”. Along the border with Niger Republic, he said, groups such as Lakurawa use cross-border hideouts to evade pursuit.
Force, intelligence and community trust
Wali said military operations remain necessary, but cannot resolve the crisis alone.
“A problem this big cannot be solved by soldiers alone. But it cannot be solved without them either,” he said. “Military and police operations must be backed by good intelligence, border control, swift justice, community involvement, opportunities for our youth and accountable government.”
He acknowledged measures already underway, including the Federal Government’s November 2025 declaration of a nationwide security emergency, increased police recruitment, and additional Army recruitment. He also cited Operation Fansan Yamma’s operations in the North-West.
At state level, Wali said Sokoto had established a Community Guard Corps, with more than 2,500 guards and equipment including 40 Hilux vehicles and 700 motorcycles. He also referred to additional security equipment provided by the state, funding for more motorcycles and plans for a military base at Illela.
Wali noted that the 19 northern governors had launched the Northern Nigeria Security Trust Fund, while traditional leaders, universities, civil society and the media had also contributed to the response.
“Yet the problem persists. That alone tells us that no single government, agency or group can end it,” he said. “When we work in isolation, the bandits exploit the gaps between us. When we share what we know, we close those gaps.”
Maj.-Gen. Paul Koughna, General Officer Commanding the 8 Division of the Nigerian Army, identified informants as a major obstacle to restoring peace. Represented by Brig.-Gen. I. O. Amah, he also stressed the importance of air power, surveillance and improved equipment.
“Sustained aerial surveillance demoralises our enemies,” he said, calling for continued investment in air assets and armoured vehicles. He noted that deploying 63 armoured Buffalo vehicles had helped troops reach previously inaccessible bandit camps and strengthened operations on the ground.
Women’s voices as part of the response
For Dr Fatima Adam, Executive Director of the Nana Girls and Women Empowerment Initiative, the scale and persistence of the crisis demand a broader approach. She argued that existing kinetic and non-kinetic efforts should be complemented by what she described as “soft power”—including the engagement of women and mothers.
“Insecurity in Nigeria is very disheartening, and the time has come for the Federal Government to change approach by using soft power,” she said.
Adam called on the government to engage women whose sons or relatives may be involved in violence, arguing that their voices could help persuade armed actors to abandon criminality.
“The time has come for the Federal Government to engage women, who are mothers of the known actors of this insecurity,” she said. “This will help end the insecurity, because the bandits, terrorists and all those involved in criminality respect the voices and pleas of their mothers.”
Her proposal sharpened the forum’s wider argument: security efforts must go beyond the battlefield and involve people with influence within families and communities, as part of a broader push to restore peace.
Traditional leadership and safer communities
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, called for closer cooperation between traditional institutions and modern security strategies. Speaking through Alhaji Sani Umar Jabbi, District Head of Gagi, he described traditional leaders as custodians of grassroots knowledge and called for training to strengthen their role in conflict resolution.
The Sultan also proposed consolidating smaller, abandoned villages into larger, more secure communities—an approach intended to support internally displaced people and help restore social ties. He commended the forum’s collaborative spirit, saying Sokoto’s future depended on its people working together.
Turning shared concern into action
In his keynote address, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu urged stakeholders to turn discussion into coordinated action. Represented by Zakari Mijinyawa, Director of Legal Services in the Office of the National Security Adviser, Ribadu said the response must protect lives, restore livelihoods and strengthen community resilience.
“We must prevent attacks, dismantle criminal networks, deny armed groups safe havens and restore public confidence in the state’s capacity to protect its citizens,” he said. Security gains, he added, must translate into safer communities, productive farms, functioning markets and children returning to school without fear.
Ribadu said the Federal Government was pursuing a comprehensive strategy involving military operations, intelligence gathering, law enforcement, border security and inter-agency cooperation. He described Operation Fansan Yamma as an important framework for coordinating security operations across the North-West, to be strengthened through better intelligence-sharing, logistics and cooperation with state governments and local communities.
He also pointed to the National Crisis Management Doctrine and its whole-of-government approach. Five priorities emerged from the discussion: deny criminal groups safe havens; strengthen intelligence and early-warning systems; build community trust; restore agriculture and rural livelihoods; and prevent recruitment into armed groups. These five priorities form the forum’s policy takeaway.
To move from dialogue to implementation, Ribadu said, stakeholders would develop community security plans, a livelihood-protection strategy, a framework for community partnerships and an implementation matrix. These steps are intended to turn the forum’s recommendations into practical policy action.
He called on each group to take responsibility: the Federal Government to sustain national coordination; state and local authorities to strengthen governance and recovery; security agencies to act professionally; traditional and religious leaders to promote peace; researchers to provide evidence-based solutions; and communities to remain active partners.
“The people of Sokoto do not measure security by the number of meetings we hold or the eloquence of our speeches,” Ribadu said. “They measure it by whether a mother can sleep without fear, a farmer can harvest without paying an unlawful levy, a trader can travel safely, and a child can attend school without the threat of abduction.”
The measure of peace
As the gathering ended, the challenge remained clear: turn shared concern into sustained cooperation and practical results. The forum’s core thesis was that peace will require military action, intelligence, justice, local leadership, livelihoods and women’s voices, working together to restore peace.
Ultimately, peace will be measured not by the number of plans produced, but by whether families can return home, farmers can work their land, markets can reopen, and children can go to school without fear.
