By Lengnan ​‌‍‌⁠‍‍‍⁠⁠‍‌‌⁠‌​​⁠‌‌​Tobias

The National Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Maj. Gen. Adamu Laka, says the security situation in the North-West and North-Central remains a serious national concern.

Laka said this on Wednesday in Abuja at a policy roundtable on curbing expansion of insurgency in the North-West and North-Central.

The roundtable was organised by the NCTC in collaboration with the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC), with support from the German Federal Foreign Office.

The News Agency of Nigeris (NAN) reports that the title of the roundtable is “Breaking Patterns of Armed Violence: Preventing Recruitment and Supporting Exit of Armed Groups in Africa”.

The NCTC national coordinator said armed groups, bandit networks and other violent non-state actors continued to cause death, displacement, loss of livelihoods and disruption to governance, education, agriculture and social cohesion.

“The growing intersection among criminal violence, insurgency and violent extremist networks can deepen recruitment and enable these groups to exploit grievances, poverty, unemployment, weak community protection and governance gaps.

“These realities require comprehensive, context-specific responses.

“Necessary military and law enforcement measures must be complemented by effective governance, community engagement, strategic communication, preventive action and credible rehabilitation and reintegration programmes,” he said.

Laka thanked the German government, the African Union (AU), the United Nations, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, and other partners for supporting the project.

He said the roundtable should deepen understanding of distinct local drivers of armed group expansion, including grievances, competition over land and resources, economic vulnerabilities, coercion, revenge, illicit financing and weak governance.

He urged participants to produce clear recommendations with responsible institutions and realistic implementation pathways.

He also said preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism required a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.

Also speaking, the Deputy Ambassador of Germany to Nigeria, Johannes Lehne, said weapons and ransom collected by bandits were not spent in the forest but in cities.

Lehne said ransom collection involved middlemen who worked across society, stressing the need to look beyond rural areas when tackling insurgency.

He identified activities on social media, disinformation and misinformation, as well as co-evolution of banditry alongside jihadist insurgents as issues undermining counter-terrorism.

He called for holistic approach that would support communities in borderlands, particularly those without internet access and good roads.

Similarly, the representative of the African Union (AU), Ms Jocelyn Nahimana, commended Nigeria for hosting the roundtable and for its collaboration with the commission.

Nahimana said the threat posed by insurgent groups and other non-state armed groups in the region was a matter of serious concern for Nigeria, West Africa and Africa.

She said sustainable solutions required strengthening civilian protection, building trust between communities and security institutions, addressing drivers of recruitment and creating credible pathways for disengagement and reintegration.

She also said the AU was advancing a Continental Strategic Plan of Action on Countering Terrorism in Africa for 2026 to 2030, which would provide common framework for member states with priorities such as intelligence sharing and disruption of terrorist financing.

Nahimana added that the commission was developing a continental framework on non-state armed groups to strengthen shared understanding of their dynamics.

”The AU will hold consultation for West Africa in November,” she revealed.

Earlier, the Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Idris Gobir, said the state government had spent billions of naira between January and August 2026, on security infrastructure, including supply of vehicles and military hardware.

Gobir said the state was participating in the roundtable to bring ideas that would help Nigerians live in peace.(NAN)

Edited by Deborah Coker