The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has described Nigeria’s worsening insecurity as a “state of war,” calling on the Federal Government to adopt urgent and extraordinary measures to address the crisis.
The position was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the 38th meeting of the Board of Trustees of the forum, held in Abuja and presided over by its Chairman, Bashir Dalhatu.
The forum said the security situation has deteriorated beyond routine governance challenges, noting that insurgency in the North-East, banditry and kidnappings in the North-West and North-Central, as well as persistent communal clashes, have combined to threaten national stability.
ACF warned that the scale and persistence of the violence now demand that the crisis be treated as a national emergency, rather than one of many competing priorities.
“The time has come for government to treat this crisis not as one issue among many, but as the overriding national emergency,” the communiqué stated.
The forum lamented the human cost of the crisis, saying hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have been killed or displaced across several states, including Borno, Plateau, Niger and Kwara.
It added that the insecurity has also taken a toll on members of the armed forces, including senior officers, while families and communities continue to suffer widespread destruction and trauma.
The ACF further noted that the crisis is undermining the nation’s economy, particularly agriculture in the North, with supply chains disrupted and rural livelihoods threatened.
According to the forum, continued insecurity is contributing to rising inflation and weakening economic stability, warning that the longer the situation persists, the more difficult and costly it will be to resolve.
The forum therefore called for a war-time approach to tackling the crisis, urging government to temporarily scale down non-essential spending and channel resources towards restoring security.
“Extraordinary threats require extraordinary measures. Nigeria must reorder its priorities by focusing national energy, funding and leadership attention on ending the security crisis,” it said.
The ACF stressed that securing the country is a prerequisite for meaningful development, insisting that other national ambitions would remain unattainable without peace and stability.
It urged government at all levels to act with urgency, mobilise available resources and adopt decisive strategies to restore safety and public confidence across the country.