The North Central Development Commission unveils its draft 2027-2046 development plan at a summit attended by 862 people, declaring that agriculture, trade, and investment cannot thrive where communities remain unsafe.
Abuja — September 18, 2026
The North Central Development Commission (NCDC) has formally unveiled a draft 20-year development plan for the region, adopted via communiqué at the close of its Road Map and Stakeholders' Development Summit, held September 14-15 at the Abuja Continental Hotel under the theme "The Great Leap Forward: A 20-Year Economic, Infrastructural and Social Development Plan for the North Central Region."
The summit drew 862 physical attendees and 49 online participants, and the resulting North Central Development Plan 2027-2046 covers Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, and the FCT, aiming to transform the region into a productive, connected, inclusive, and resilient economic hub.
In its most striking passage, the adopted communiqué stated plainly: "Security is productive infrastructure: agriculture, trade, investment, education and community life cannot thrive where people, assets and transport corridors remain unsafe."
The summit called for a dedicated regional security and peacebuilding framework built around intelligence sharing, community engagement, early warning systems, and stronger inter-state coordination, including the responsible use of satellite imagery, drones, and geospatial intelligence, and a requirement that security be built directly into the planning of farms, schools, markets, and transport corridors going forward.
The communiqué observed that despite the region's extensive agricultural land, water, minerals, energy resources, and strategic central location, these assets have not translated into commensurate productivity or incomes, a gap it attributed to fragmented planning and weak inter-state connectivity.
The summit called for formalising artisanal mining and establishing mineral-processing and manufacturing clusters to retain more value, employment, and revenue within the region, alongside an integrated network of roads, rail, inland waterways, and logistics linking all six states with the FCT.
Nasarawa Governor and North Central Governors' Forum Chairman Abdullahi Sule formally presented the draft plan, stressing the need to move beyond simply extracting the region's resources toward processing them locally, and calling on regional leaders to translate the blueprint into measurable results.
President Tinubu, represented by SGF Senator George Akume, challenged the NCDC to break from "business as usual" and pledged adequate political and financial support for the commission to execute projects capable of unlocking the region's industrial potential. Keynote speaker Sen. Iyorwuese Hagher urged the region to convert its diversity, natural resources, and human capital into shared prosperity through value addition, technology, and disciplined implementation.
NCDC Managing Director Dr. Cyril Yiltsen Tsenyil described the summit as the start of an inclusive, evidence-led, implementation-focused process, with the commission positioned to serve as regional coordinator and investment catalyst rather than sole executor, leaving governments, communities, and investors to take on clearly defined implementation roles.
As with any 20-year blueprint, the plan's ultimate value will depend on whether its financing, coordination, and accountability mechanisms can convert broad priorities into funded projects with clear ownership, a test made more urgent by the summit's own acknowledgment that none of it can succeed without first solving the security crisis this outlet has documented extensively across Benue, Plateau, and Niger States this year.
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