When the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) gathered in Kaduna for its 25th anniversary, the region’s top statesmen, technocrats, youth leaders, and elders converged under a bold promise: “Unity and Progress.”
It was a symbolic reminder that Northern Nigeria, once the most politically cohesive region in the federation, now stands at its most fragile moment since 1966.
The anniversary events highlighted all the right long-term priorities: Unity and Northern identity — “One people, one North.”
Security — confronting terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping. Youth and the Creative Economy — preparing a new generation for modern innovation. Tourism for Security — using culture and heritage as a stabilizing force. A Call to Action — to move from talk to implementation in education, agriculture, and finance.
And of course, the launch of the ACF Endowment Fund, aimed at driving socio-economic transformation in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda.
The vision is admirable.
The ambition is commendable.
But the strategy is incomplete—dangerously incomplete.
THE MOST URGENT CRISIS THE NORTH FACES IS NOT POVERTY OR INSECURITY. IT IS TRUST—SHATTERED, POISONED, AND ABUSED.
Before Boko Haram, before banditry, before farmer–herder clashes, the North possessed an invisible asset more valuable than oil and more stable than minerals:
A shared identity. A shared destiny. A shared trust.
Muslims and Christians lived as neighbours. Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri, Jukun, Tiv, Bachama, Adara, Berom, Igala, Nupe, Ebira and countless others coexisted with disagreements—but without hatred.
Today, that invisible asset has been destroyed.
Across Kaduna, Katsina, Plateau, Zamfara, Taraba, Niger, Sokoto, Kebbi, Bauchi, Gombe, and the Benue borderlands, mistrust runs deeper than poverty, deeper than unemployment, deeper than crime.
A minor quarrel becomes a religious conflict. A misinterpreted gesture becomes an ethnic war signal. A WhatsApp rumour becomes a night of bloodshed.
No government can govern a people who no longer trust one another. No development agenda can thrive where communities see themselves as enemies.
WHY TRUST IS THE FIRST PROBLEM THAT MUST BE FIXED
To understand why the Endowment Fund must focus on trust-building above all else, one must face the hard truth:
1. You cannot defeat insecurity in a region where communities do not trust each other.
Security depends on intelligence sharing, not bullets.
But how can intelligence flow when: villagers refuse to cooperate because the next village is from “the other religion”? youths hide criminals because they belong to their ethnic group? communities sabotage security operations out of suspicion?
Even the most advanced military cannot win where citizens are psychologically divided.
Insecurity is not just a security problem—it is a trust problem.
2. You cannot build the economy where identity has become a weapon.
No investor puts money where communities burn down markets. No farmer cultivates land next to people he fears. No pastoralist moves freely when every movement is misinterpreted as an attack. No youth builds a career when propaganda convinces him that “the other tribe” is his enemy.
Agriculture, industries, creative economy, tourism—they all depend on peaceful coexistence. Without trust, every economic intervention will fail before it begins.
3. You cannot fix governance where citizens distrust leaders and institutions.
Corruption flourishes where people are divided. Bad leaders use religious and ethnic fear to silence criticism. Policies are rejected—not based on merit, but based on who introduced them.
A community that does not trust the government cannot benefit from the government.
4. You cannot improve education in a society where fear overrides learning.
Northern Nigeria’s literacy crisis is made worse by mistrust:
Christian teachers fear Muslim-majority schools. Muslim teachers fear Christian-majority communities. Parents withdraw children from schools at the slightest rumour. Education cannot thrive where learners and teachers feel unsafe.
THE DIGITAL WAR: WHERE TRUST IS BEING DESTROYED DAILY
One of the Northern leaders correctly warned of “sophisticated subversion.” This is not theory, it is happening every day. Deepfake videos manufactured abroad inflame religious hatred. AI-generated voices impersonate imams and pastors. TikTok propaganda glamorizes banditry for unemployed youth. WhatsApp groups manufacture ethnic lies that travel faster than facts.
The enemies of the North have discovered its weakness:
Its people are divided—and digital manipulation can divide them further.
Unless the ACF leadership is ready to confront this digital warfare, no road, no school, no farm, no hospital will survive long enough to matter.
SO WHERE SHOULD THE ENDOWMENT FUND GO?
The answer is simple: WHERE THE FIRE IS HOTTEST. In rebuilding trust before anything else.
Below is the strategic blueprint that the ACF must adopt.
1. Community Trust Restoration Centres (CTRCs)
Healing first, development second.
These centres will:
• mediate conflicts,
• address ethnic grievances,
• promote interfaith dialogue,
• counter rumours instantly,
• rehabilitate radicalised youth, and
• rebuild bonds across communities.
Countries like Rwanda and Kenya rebuilt national unity after violent crises because they invested heavily in reconciliation structures. Plateau’s early intervention platforms reduced violence by up to 60%.
The North must learn from proven success.
2. Interfaith & Civic Peace Education in Schools
Children are not born with hatred. They are taught it. So we must teach them something better.
A structured curriculum on:
• tolerance,
• critical thinking,
• conflict resolution,
• digital literacy, and
• the shared history of Northern Nigeria
will reduce future conflicts by almost half, according to global peace education studies.
This is long-term preventive medicine.
3. A Digital Counter-Subversion Unit
The North must start fighting on the battlefield where the war is actually being fought: the internet.
This unit must:
• monitor online hate,
• debunk fake news within minutes,
• counter extremist narratives with facts,
• push unity-based content for youth,
• train communities on recognizing manipulation.
If 78% of violence-triggering rumours begin online, then the solution must begin online too.
4. Joint Muslim–Christian Security Watch Teams
Security improves dramatically when:
• neighbours watch over neighbours,
• identity barriers collapse, and
• information flows freely.
Borno’s civilian JTF proved this.
Kenya’s interfaith patrols proved this.
The North can replicate it with ease.
5. Mental Health and Trauma Healing
Millions across the North carry wounds you cannot see:
• kidnapped survivors,
• widows of violence,
• displaced persons,
• children who watched their parents killed.
Trauma breeds anger.
Anger breeds hatred.
Hatred breeds violence.
Unless we treat the emotional wounds, the North will continue to recycle conflict.
6. Early Warning and Rapid Response Systems
Violence begins with rumours.
But it can also be stopped with timely intervention.
A network across all Northern states—modelled after Plateau’s success—can prevent small sparks from becoming national tragedies.
DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT TRUST IS AN ILLUSION — A MANSION BUILT ON QUICKSAND
You cannot build: roads that communities destroy out of suspicion, schools that parents refuse to use, hospitals that one ethnic group sees as “not for us,” agriculture projects sabotaged by identity wars, or tourism in a region where travellers fear the next village.
Trust is the foundation.
Development is the building.
Without the foundation, the building will collapse.
THE NORTH MUST MAKE A STRATEGIC CHOICE
The ACF must choose between two paths:
1. Spend the Endowment Fund on visible projects that win applause but solve nothing long-term.
OR
2. Spend it on rebuilding trust—the invisible work that guarantees peace, security, and prosperity.
The first choice wins today’s headlines.
The second wins the next 50 years.
The North does not need more monuments.
It needs healing.
It needs reconciliation.
It needs the courage to address its deepest wound: division.
IF ACF BELIEVES IN “ONE PEOPLE, ONE NORTH,” THEN ITS FIRST DUTY IS TO REPAIR THE “ONE” THAT HAS BEEN BROKEN.
Without trust, nothing will work.
With trust, everything becomes possible.
That is why the Endowment Fund must—must—be used first to mend the North’s broken bonds.
Everything else can wait.
