Stakeholders have advocated adoption of indigenous solutions, advanced technology and state policing to curb rising insecurity.
The stakeholders made the suggestions at a South-West Zonal National Security Summit convened by the Senate in partnership with Lagos State Government.
The stakeholders emphasised strengthening collaborative strategies, enhancing operational capacity and prioritising community-driven interventions to stem security threats across the country.
The renewed attacks in some states have prompted urgent national conversations on effective responses to insecurity.
Senator Tokunbo Abiru (Lagos East) said the summit, conducted simultaneously in Nigeria’s six geo-political zones, showed the need for decisive partnerships among governments and security institutions to prevent escalation of insecurity and reinforce sustainable national stability.
He warned that the geopolitical zone must not be allowed to become a haven for criminality, saying that only coordinated, technology-enabled and community-rooted strategies would protect its long-standing values of openness, fairness and tolerance.
“Security is a collective responsibility, and while global partnerships can help, the real implementation must be local and led by experts who understand our terrain,” he said.
In a message delivered by Mr Ayodele Ogunsan, the Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, Lagos State Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to improved security.
He also advocated a regional framework essential for safeguarding lives and promoting long-term economic resilience.
“We need to ensure that we make security our businesses, it is the nerve centre that binds us a citizens,” he said.
The Traditional Ruler of Ilara in Epe Town, Lagos State, Oba Olufolarin Ogunsanwo, called for community policing, modern technology deployment and joint taskforces.
He also urged expanded police recruitment, increased funding, better equipment and more employment opportunities to limit youth restiveness and associated threats.
He said that President Bola Tinubu’s administration had intensified collaboration with international partners, but noted that weak structures at the grassroots continued to derail progress.
“Traditional rulers are closest to the people and must be fully integrated into security planning because they provide first-hand knowledge of strange movements, cross-border infiltration and early signs of criminal aactivities, ” he said.
The royal father said that daily cases of kidnapping insurgent incursions, banditry, youth involvement in violent crimes, unemployment-driven criminal recruitment, porous borders with Benin, Niger, Cameroon and Mali, and inadequate intelligence capacity were fuelling insecurity across the South-West Geo-political Zone.
He emphasised that recruitment of additional police officers, proper equipping of security forces, inter-agency coordination, legally-backed state policing, improved youth employment, equitable distribution of national resources and strengthened border management would help to stabilise the zone.
“These criminals are not ghosts; they come in through weak borders or live among us, and we must build the kind of local coordination that brings information from the community level straight to the state and national levels,” he said.
Senator Ibrahim Jimoh, sponsor of the National Security Summit Bill, said terrorism and Boko Haram insurgency represented non-conventional warfare requiring military-civilian synergy operations to tackle.
“Non-conventional warfare is a continuous process that government must be deliberate about, by consciously educating pepetrators and also the citizens.
“When you see something, say something, it is a collaborative effort, and we must engage everyone,
“This is crucial as militancy cannot combat non-conventional war which is indigenous and must be given local treatment rather than international intervention.
The Aare Onakankanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, said that state policing remained the most viable solution.
” If the local government autonomy had been enforced, local government chairmen will have more funds at their localities to tackle insecurity.
” We need a drastic action, we should ensure that state police is established,” he said.
However, security operatives in the South West who spoke through the Lagos State Commissioner for Police, Mr Jimoh Olohunwa, kicked against establishment of state police.
Olohunwa said that operations of Amotekun security outfit in some states in South West, and Neighborhood Watch operatives in Lagos were complementary to existing security formations and should not be duplicated.
“There is commitment of all security formations to protecting lives and property of all Nigerians irrespective of religion, ethnicity and political affiliations.
Representatives of Christian and Islamic leaders called for improved welfare packages for security operatives to motivate them to diligently discharge their duties without fear or favour.
