North-West unites as 2,938 kidnapping cases expose security crisis

The North-West’s growing dominance of Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis is pushing security agencies in the region towards a more coordinated response, with state directors of the Department of State Services (DSS) calling for real-time intelligence sharing and joint operations.

The security chiefs made the call on Wednesday at the Northwest Conference of State Directors of Security in Katsina, organised by the DSS under the theme, “Unite Against Terror.”

The meeting comes as data from SBM Intelligence shows that 2,938 people were kidnapped across the North-West between July 2024 and June 2025, accounting for 62.2 per cent of the 4,722 kidnapping victims recorded nationwide during the period. The region also accounted for 425 of the 997 reported kidnapping incidents.

Zamfara was the worst affected, recording 1,203 victims, followed by Kaduna with 629, Katsina with 566 and Sokoto with 358. The figures underline the extent to which kidnapping-for-ransom has become concentrated in the region.

The crisis has persisted into 2026. The National Human Rights Commission’s first-quarter dashboard documented 651 kidnapping incidents and 492 killings nationwide between January and March, with Zamfara, Kebbi and Katsina among the states identified as significantly affected.

Recent attacks have further demonstrated the ability of armed groups to conduct mass abductions. Amnesty International reported that 166 people were abducted from three churches in Kaduna State in January, while 150 people were kidnapped in Zamfara in early April.

The latest security meeting therefore shifts the focus from individual state responses to regional coordination.

The Katsina State Director of Security, Alhassan Iliyasu, said the conference was designed to enable intelligence agencies to compare experiences, identify gaps and develop coordinated measures against banditry, terrorism and other criminal activities.

He said the meeting would produce a communiqué containing an actionable roadmap for security agencies across the seven North-West states.

Iliyasu said the responsibility for defeating terrorism could not rest with security agencies alone, stressing the importance of communities, vigilante groups and other stakeholders in gathering and transmitting intelligence.

“Unite Against Terror involves everybody, not only the security agencies, but the entire society,” he said.

He cited the involvement of the Community Watch Corps and vigilante groups in Katsina as part of the state’s community-based security response and urged residents to report suspicious movements and activities.

The call for intelligence coordination was reinforced by the Commander of the 17 Brigade, Brig.-Gen. Ishaya Ibrahim, who said the nature of the threat had made inter-agency cooperation essential.

According to him, military firepower and territorial operations could not deliver effective results without reliable intelligence.

Ibrahim said terrorists and bandits were exploiting gaps in information, coordination and trust among security agencies, making faster intelligence sharing and joint planning necessary.

He called for stronger communication systems, joint training and mutual operational support among security agencies.

The commander also stressed the importance of community trust, saying residents often possess information that could help security agencies prevent attacks or locate criminal groups.

The scale of the challenge is reflected in broader conflict data. An analysis of 2023–2025 violence in the North-West found 3,600 incidents and 9,380 fatalities across the region over the three-year period, with violence peaking in 2024 before declining somewhat in 2025.

The persistence of attacks despite military operations has also raised questions about the sustainability of current approaches. In August, Nigerian troops rescued 33 people abducted in Zamfara, after engaging their captors and forcing them to abandon the victims.

Governor Dikko Radda of Katsina, represented by his deputy, Faruk Lawal-Jobe, said the security challenges confronting the North-West were interconnected and therefore required a common strategy rather than isolated state-level responses.

He said Katsina’s approach combined military and security operations with interventions aimed at reducing the vulnerability of communities affected by banditry.

The governor cited free medical services for victims of attacks and agricultural interventions, including mechanisation, extension services, improved seeds and fertiliser distribution.

The emerging regional strategy reflects a recognition that the geography of the crisis does not follow state boundaries. Criminal groups operating across forests and rural communities can move between jurisdictions, making intelligence gaps particularly costly.

For the seven North-West states, the challenge now is whether the proposed communiqué will translate into a permanent system for sharing intelligence, conducting joint operations and coordinating community-based security responses — rather than another standalone security meeting.

With the region accounting for more than six out of every 10 kidnapping victims recorded in Nigeria in the latest full-year dataset, the effectiveness of that coordination could determine whether the North-West can begin to reverse its position as the country’s kidnapping epicentre.