THE NATIONAL CENTRE FOR SALW

The national centre for control of arms has its work clearly cut out

Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the establishment of a National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) to be domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser. It replaces the defunct Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons and shall serve as the institutional mechanism for policy guidance, research, and monitoring of all aspects of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in Nigeria. We hope this measure will help in addressing the menace of violence in our country.

From Benue to Taraba to Zamfara, Kaduna and Ekiti to Enugu and other conflict zones across the country, killings have become a routine fare. Indeed, the ability of terror-minded gangs to thumb their noses at the authorities each time the security forces attempt to make claims and boastful noises must be seen as a measure of their strength vis-a-vis the weakness of the federal government.

Nigeria, according to most reports, accounts for at least 70 per cent of the illegal small arms and light weapons (SALW) circulating within the West African sub-region. A few years ago, the then Chief of Army Standards and Evaluation, Major-General Shehu Abdulkadir said that “it is estimated that over 70 per cent of eight to 10 million illegal weapons in West Africa are in Nigeria.” Today, the situation is worse. That much was affirmed by former head of state General Abdusalami Abubakar (rtd.) recently. The nation is under siege from unlicensed arms in the hands of bandits, kidnappers, and sundry criminal cartels.

In the past four years, the Nigeria Customs Service has on different occasions gleefully displayed the cache of arms it claimed to have intercepted at the Tin Can Island Port of Apapa in Lagos. To date, nobody is on trial for any of these serious national security threats which indicate a systemic arms build-up. It is, therefore, no longer convenient for us to sit by and watch government and its security agencies slack hugely in their responsibilities. Given the ominous statistics on the existing SALWs in the country, we hope the NCCSALW will provide a more urgent and concrete response to the challenge.

It stands to reason that with access to abundant illegal weapons the rogue elements in our midst have become more fortified and hence less amenable to entreaties to make peace. Yet it was such easy access to SALWs by some unscrupulous elements that resulted in total breakdown of law and order in some of the failed states in Africa of which Somalia is a prime example. The danger in the proliferation of weapons is that when they fall into the hands of non-state actors, they become objects of terror by people who have no regard for international laws and conventions.

As matters stand today, there are far too many guns out there that we need more than revision of licensing rules. Nigeria now needs a comprehensive nationwide arms’ decommissioning programme. We should start with a mass voluntary arms surrendering programme with incentives. This should be followed by whistle blower-assisted arms recovery process. Following from that, the authorities can then enact a comprehensive gun law as we seek practical solutions to the challenge of insecurity in our country.

The NCCSALW is expected to serve as the national focal point on SALW in the country while leading a multi-stakeholder process to tackle the menace. Its pioneer coordinator, Major General AM Dikko (rtd) comes highly recommended given his international experience and exposure. As this newspaper has pointed out on several occasions, there is an organic linkage between the failure of the authorities to secure the lives and property of citizens and the geometric rise in the inclination towards self-help. That, we have also repeatedly warned, is a prelude to anarchy!