Nigerian President Bola Tinubu landed in the central city of Jos on Thursday following the Palm Sunday shooting of dozens of people.
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Police say they have identified several suspects.
“This experience will not repeat itself,” Tinubu said at a small ceremony held at Jos airport.
He vowed to provide support for the families of the victims and immediately deploy “over 5,000 security cameras” to boost security in the state.
Nigeria is facing overlapping security crises which claim the lives of both Muslims and Christians, often without distinction.
While Plateau state, of which Jos is the capital, has seen repeated incidents of rural violence linked in part to farmer-herder conflicts, the attack in Jos marked a rare and unsettling urban attack.
It forced Tinubu to postpone a long-planned trip elsewhere in the country to go to Jos to “commiserate …over the recent gun attacks”.
The state governor, security agencies and various community leaders attended the meeting.
Analysts says it is uncommon for the president to pay post-attack visits.
“It is not the first time Nigeria would witness mass atrocity… (and) it is rare that the president will personally visit,” said Taiwo Adebayo, a researcher with the Pretoria-headquartered Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
Adebayo said the visit may have been partially politically motivated.
Some Jos residents also expressed scepticism about Tinubu’s gesture.
“I see no good outcome,” 45-year-old trader Peter Auta told AFP.
“Previous visits by the vice president has not changed anything. The crisis continues to occur and people are killed.”
“The visit is more political than the real sense of taking serious action to protect citizens,” he said.
The northern state of Plateau is one of Nigeria’s most volatile regions and is home to a mixed population of Christians and Muslims.
While many live peacefully side by side, Jos city has witnessed ethnic and religious tensions that have, in the past, degenerated into deadly sectarian riots.
Many of the conflicts in the region have their roots in tensions over land between Muslim herders and mostly Christian farmers, which are exacerbated by the impact of climate change.
This has not stopped US President Donald Trump claiming — without evidence — that the widespread insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation amounts to “persecution” of Christians, a framing rejected not just by Abuja.
Faith groups from both sides called for calm after the Palm Sunday shooting.