"Let us direct our anger at poverty, not at each other," Vice President Kashim Shettima urged Nigerians while addressing the deadly violence in Plateau State. The VP's impassioned plea called for national unity, stressing that "our common enemy remains economic hardship, not fellow citizens."

During the Validation Workshop on the Framework for Anticipatory Action in Nigeria, held at the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in Abuja on Wednesday, April 16, Vice President Shettima condemned the recent killings in Plateau State carried out by unidentified gunmen, calling the incident a national tragedy.

“We have no business fighting each other. We should be fighting poverty,” Shettima said, as he called on Nigerians across all ethnic, religious, and regional lines to promote peace and unity.

“The heart of the President bleeds, as does my heart and the heart of every conscientious Nigerian and African, with the tragedy unfolding in Plateau State,” he remarked while emphasizing that the persistent violence is a major setback to national development, drawing attention away from the country’s most pressing economic and social challenges.

Amid escalating violence in Plateau and the wider Middle Belt, Shettima's appeal for unity strikes a critical chord. The region has been gripped by relentless attacks, leaving trails of bloodshed and displaced communities in their wake—a grim backdrop to the VP's urgent call for solidarity against poverty, not division.

The Office of the National Security Adviser convened critical stakeholders at a high-level workshop to develop proactive measures against evolving security threats nationwide—a move underscoring Nigeria’s preventive security shift.

“Our diversity should be a strength, not a trigger for conflict,” he added, stressing the need for a collective national effort to tackle poverty, which he identified as a root cause of unrest.

He also highlighted that Nigeria’s diversity ought to be a unifying force rather than a source of division, calling for a united national approach to addressing poverty— which he described as a key driver of instability.