The West Africa Action Network Against Small Arms Proliferation (WAANSA) has urged northern governors in Nigeria to shift their focus from the upcoming 2027 general elections to addressing the escalating insecurity and poverty in the region. Martin Igwe, Regional First Vice President of WAANSA, made this call during a visit to the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Kaduna State, emphasizing that the North is experiencing unchecked violence, arms inflow, and leadership neglect.

Igwe, who represents Nigeria on WAANSA’s executive board, expressed concern that while farmers and rural dwellers live in fear of bandits, kidnappers, and cross-border criminals, politicians are preoccupied with the 2027 elections. He noted that the region’s insecurity is fueled by porous borders, allowing arms smuggling and bandit infiltration from neighboring countries. States such as Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Kwara have become hotbeds of insecurity due to these factors.

WAANSA, which operates in all 15 ECOWAS member states, is concerned about the regional dimension of Nigeria’s security crisis and is advocating for stronger cross-border collaboration under the ECOWAS framework. Igwe appealed to Deputy Senate President Senator Barau Jibrin to rally his counterparts in the sub-region to adopt a joint security strategy to combat arms proliferation and transnational crimes.

The region is also experiencing worsening food insecurity, attributed to farmers’ inability to access their farmlands due to incessant attacks. Igwe emphasized that when people cannot farm, hunger follows, and when hunger strikes, criminality grows. He also highlighted the role of drug use in enabling banditry and violent crimes, accusing some political actors of indirectly funding the drug trade that fuels insecurity.

In response to WAANSA’s concerns, Chairman of the NUJ Kaduna Council, Alhaji AbdulGafar Alabelewe, pledged the union’s readiness to partner with the group in driving peace-oriented public discourse across Nigeria. He urged state governments to adopt Kaduna’s non-kinetic approach to conflict management, which has helped reduce violence, and called for stronger ECOWAS cooperation to secure the region’s borders and stabilize the sub-region. The collaboration between WAANSA and the media is aimed at exposing syndicates that fuel insecurity and promoting peace and development in the region.