…Says, “No such thing as ‘Northern Region.’”
…Tells its Govs to stay out, build state security instead.
…Fears Fund could be used to rehabilitating ‘repentant’ terrorists, bandits.
by Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
The Middle-Belt Forum (MBF), Nigeria, has openly rejected the newly-inaugurated ‘Northern Nigeria Security Trust Fund’ (NNSTF), accusing it of being “a well crafted design by the Sokoto caliphate and Borno Sultanate” to raise money for interests other than security.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, July 21 2026, and signed by Forum’s National Spokesman, Luka Binniyat, the MBF said Middle-Belt Governors should stay out of the ‘Fund’ and instead invest their state resources directly in protecting their people.
“The MBF has carefully studied the circumstances leading to the establishment of the Northern Nigeria Security Trust Fund (NNSTF), whose Board of Trustees was inaugurated on July 8, 2026.
“The Board of Trustees of the NNSTF was inaugurated on July 8, 2026. Northern governors are expected to contribute about N1 Billion monthly to the Fund,” it stated.
While backing the creation of State Police and “every sincere effort aimed at ending terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes,” the MBF said committing huge monthly sums to a regional fund was wrong.
“Middle-Belt Has Paid The Highest Price,” it noted, adding that, “The Forum said the Middle-Belt has suffered the greatest human and material losses from years of violence in Northern Nigeria.
“Thousands of innocent men, women and children have been killed. Hundreds of communities have been destroyed. Millions of hectares of farmlands have been abandoned, while countless families now live as Internally-Displaced Persons,” the statement read.
The Forum lamented that throughout the bloodshed, the Northern States Governors’ Forum “has rarely spoken with one voice to condemn the repeated massacres of Middle-Belt communities and, that, many victims never received solidarity visits from governors.”
“There Is No Northern Region,” it stated, describing the concept of a ‘Northern Region’ as “a vexatious, exploitative, suppressive and a backward creation of colonial rule which died in 1966.”
It declared that the continued membership of Middle-Belt States in the Northern States Governors’ Forum “is very unpopular, not recognized by any state law and, as such, not acceptable by the majority of the People of the Middle-Belt.”
MBF warned that it will challenge the legality of withdrawing One Billion Naira monthly from each state to the Fund.
On what it wants, the Forum proposed that, if states have N1 billion to contribute monthly, the money should be used to:
“*Empower local communities to form “First Lines of Defence;”
“*Improve local intelligence, communication equipment, surveillance technology and emergency response systems, and also rebuild destroyed villages, rehabilitate schools and hospitals;”
“*Compensate victims and permanently resettle displaced families.”
It also raised fears that the Fund “could eventually find its way rehabilitating ‘repentant’ terrorists and bandits, while innocent victims continue to suffer without any support.”
“The Middle-Belt did not create the terrorist groups or armed gangs terrorising Northern Nigeria. Those, who understand the roots of these criminal networks, are in the core north,” MBF said, urging Middle-Belt governors to “form its own security network to tackle the genocide originating from the Sokoto/Borno Caliphat.”
The Forum concluded that, “Lasting peace cannot be achieved by money alone,” suggesting that “Justice, accountability and effective prosecution of criminals and political will are the real foundations of lasting security.”
It called on Middle-Belt governors to stay out of the NNSTF, and urged citizens in affected states to “raise their voices and reject any contributions to the NNSTF.”
“Let every state invest its resources directly in protecting its people, rebuilding destroyed communities, supporting victims of violence and restoring hope to citizens, who have paid the highest price for insecurity,” Forum stated.