Arms Control Center to Start Marking Weapon-holding by Security Agencies

•Irabor: Arms proliferation fuelling insecurity

Kingsley Nwezeh

In a renewed determination to contain arms proliferation in the country, the National Center for the Control of Small and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) has planned to institutionalise the marking of weapon-holdings by security agencies and mopping up of small and light weapons across the country.

In the same vein, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, said yesterday that arms proliferation was the main factor fuelling insurgency and banditry in the country.

This, also, confirmed the position by a former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, who argued sometime ago that six million small arms and light weapons were in circulation in Nigeria.

National Coordinator of the arms control center, Maj. Gen. AM Dikko (rtd), said at the Defence Headquarters that the organisations planned to mark the weapons holding of security agencies and mop up small and light weapons across the country.

“The NCCSALW intends to aggregate all weapons and related material that have been mopped up from the society and manage the stockpile leading up to its destruction.

“The centre also plans to institutionalise the process of marking all weapons holdings of security agencies and maintain a national database that would help to keep track of all small arms and light weapons in the country to ensure traceability in case the weapons fall into wrong hands,” he said.

He explained that the purpose of the visit was to acquaint the defence chief of the core functions of NCCSALW.

The visit was also to highlight the various areas of collaboration with the defence headquarters and to solicit maximum support of the Armed Forces in the actualisation of the core objectives of the centre.

Dikko stated that the NCCSALW was established on May 3, 2021, following an executive order by President Muhammadu Buhari and he was appointed the National Coordinator of the Centre on May 6, 2021.

He noted that the centre was intended to serve as the institutional mechanism for policy guidance, research and monitoring of all aspects of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria.

In view of this, he said the centre would be promoting policy actions through networking and advocacy in collaboration with government agencies, civil society organisations, security sector institutions, development partners and international organisations.

A report prepared by a research and consultancy group, Beacon Consulting Ltd., a member of ASIS International, world’s largest association for security management professionals, showed that of the 6.5 million small arms and light weapons circulating in Nigeria, 5 million are in the possession of non-state actors while 568,000 are in the hands of law enforcement agencies.

Irabor, who spoke while receiving Dikko said, research and experience revealed that the state of insecurity in the nation was attributable to the illicit proliferation of arms in the society.

A statement by the Director, Strategic Communication and Information of the weapons center, Group Captain E. Akintuntinde, said the defence chief “pointed out that the establishment of the centre was long overdue given the current state of insecurity in the nation.”

He further reiterated that research and experience revealed that the state of insecurity in the nation was attributable to the illicit proliferation of arms in the society.

Irabor contended that the significant reduction of illicit arms flows was a collective responsibility of all stakeholders, saying, “all hands must be on deck in this fight against insecurity in the nation and pledged to give his maximum support in the actualisation of the centre’s objectives, which aims at the eradication of illicit arms in the country”.