The South-West Governors’ Forum on Monday, November 24, 2025, announced a sweeping regional security blueprint after an emergency meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State, aimed at strengthening collective response to escalating insecurity across the zone.
The meeting, held at the Oyo State Government Secretariat, brought together Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti), and Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa (Ondo). Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, was represented by his deputy, Kola Adewusi.
The session reviewed rising security concerns, renewed calls for state police, and adopted fresh strategies to tighten interstate borders and improve intelligence coordination. The decisions formed part of ongoing regional integration efforts under the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN).
In a communiqué read by Governor Sanwo-Olu, who chairs the South-West Governors’ Forum, the leaders unveiled ten major resolutions, chief among them the creation of the South West Security Fund (SWSF) to strengthen coordinated interventions across the six states.
The fund will be managed through the DAWN Commission by the Forum of Special Advisers on Security, with monthly meetings to harmonize operations.
To tighten response capacity, the governors approved a digital, real-time intelligence-sharing platform designed to exchange threat reports, incident logs, cargo alerts, and coordinate rapid response mechanisms between states.
The communiqué also highlighted growing concerns over unregulated interstate migration and porous boundaries. To curb these risks, the governors called for enhanced border surveillance, biometric data gathering, and deeper synergy with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
Reaffirming their longstanding agitation for state police, the governors declared that the time has come for decentralised policing, insisting that “it can no longer be delayed.”
They commended the NSCDC, local hunters’ groups, and the Amotekun Corps for their roles in safeguarding communities, while urging the Federal Government to deploy Forest Guards across the South-West, a measure the states pledged to support through personnel provisions.
The governors emphasised a collective resolve to reclaim forests from criminal elements.
The Forum also expressed solidarity with the Federal Government over recent kidnappings in Kebbi, Kwara, and Niger States, and applauded what was described as the “swift response” that led to the rescue of abducted Kwara worshippers and dozens of students in Niger State.
Furthermore, the governors praised ongoing federal efforts to boost food security and acknowledged farmers in the region for increased output that has contributed to stabilising food prices.
They also thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for establishing the South West Development Commission (SWDC), urging the body to effectively pursue its development mandate across the region.
Reiterating the region’s values of unity and peaceful coexistence, the communiqué stated: “We remain one, indivisible entity that will continue to enjoy and guard the religious tolerance that we have always been known for.”
The communiqué was signed by Prince Ebenezer Adeniyan, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Ondo State.
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