Building Peace From Makurdi: How Governor Alia Turned Benue Into The Heart Of A Regional Security Renaissance

When the North-Central Regional Security Summit opened in Makurdi today, August 31, 2026, at the new banquet hall of Government house, under the theme “Collaborative Approaches to Strengthening Security and Regional Stability,” it was more than symbolic that Benue State was chosen to host the entire zone. It was recognition,  by the Presidency, by fellow governors, and by the security establishment, of a state that has spent the last three years transforming from one of Nigeria’s most troubled security flashpoints into a template for community-anchored, multi-agency crime fighting.

President Bola Tinubu, GCFR, who was represented at the summit by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, HE, Senator George Akume, used the Makurdi gathering to call on traditional rulers, religious leaders, youth groups, and communities across Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kwara, and Niger to deepen collaboration with government and security agencies.

Governor Hyacinth Alia, welcoming delegates as host, noted that the summit’s focus on banditry, farmer-herder conflict, kidnapping, and organised crime, spoke directly to the realities his own administration has been confronting since taking office, and argued that the region’s diversity should be treated as a source of strength rather than division.

That Benue was entrusted with convening this landmark, zone-wide event is itself a marker of the confidence the federal government and sister states now place in Governor Alia’s security leadership. As the governor himself has noted, the state’s improving relationship with Abuja has translated into tangible federal support, including the deployment of the Nigerian Army’s 5 Division to Benue, which he has described as a major boost to the state’s capacity to confront armed threats.

Long before the regional spotlight turned to Makurdi, the Alia led administration had been quietly constructing an unusually comprehensive home-grown security architecture. Since 2023, his administration has stood up the Benue State Civil Protection Guards, a 5,000-strong outfit working alongside federal security agencies,  together with specialised units such as the Livestock Guards, Mining Marshals, and other security units, backed by dedicated operations including Operation Zenda and Whirl Stroke.

Institutionally, the government also created the Bureau of Homeland Security, the Benue State Peace and Reconciliation Commission, and the Citizens Mediation Centre, giving the state both a security response and a conflict-resolution mechanism working in tandem.

The financial commitment behind this build-out has been substantial: by the end of its first year alone, the administration had channelled roughly ₦9.48 billion into internal security provisions and equipment, and police records point to 1,435 violent-crime offenders arrested, prosecuted, and convicted since the administration came in. An indication that the action governor of Benue is “doing” rather than merely “talking” about security.

The Executive Governor of Benue State, His Excellency, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia has publicly credited this multi-layered approach, combined with what he calls the Tinubu administration’s genuine commitment to the safety of Nigerians, with producing what he describes as tremendous improvement in security across Benue over the past three years. The pointer to this meaningful indicator can be seen in the  shrinking number of Internally Displaced Persons camps, as some families who had fled communal and herder-related violence are returning their farmlands.

The governor has also been candid that the fight is not finished. In LGAs such as Kwande, Ukum, Katsina-Ala, Logo, and Gwer-West, attacks have been on and off, and the government has continued to press for reinforcements, including advocacy for state policing, and the Governor has personally led outreaches to affected communities. The Governor who most recently toured  the eleven Federal Constituencies reassured residents that no ancestral land will be ceded to encroachment under whatever guise.

It was His Excellency, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia who, as far back as April 2025, first floated the idea of scaling Benue’s security response into a full North-Central regional summit, telling federal advisers at Government House that the state intended to hold its own summit first before championing a wider zonal forum.

That vision materialised today, August 31, 2026, when governors, security chiefs, and federal officials converged on Makurdi, validating the governor’s early instinct that insecurity in the North-Central could not be solved state-by-state, but required the kind of coordinated, cross-border framework Benue had been quietly building toward all along.

For a state that just a few years ago was synonymous with displacement and communal bloodshed, Benue’s role as convener and host of the region’s flagship security summit marks a significant reputational turnaround, which is the direct dividend of sustained investment, institutional innovation, and unwavering federal partnership under the leadership of His Excellency, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia.

Hon. Chief Solomon Iorpev Honourable Commissioner, Information and Orientation