Insecurity: Senate Passes Bill to Establish Commission against Arms Proliferation 

* Proposes law to strengthen secondary education

Sunday Aborisade

The Senate has passed a bill to establish the National Commission for the Coordination and Control of the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons.

The passage of the National Commission Against the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2022 followed the consideration of a report by the Committee on National Security and Intelligence. 

The bill is a consolidation of three bills – two private-member bills and one from the Executive arm of government against the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.

They are: The Nigerian National Commission against the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2020 (SB. 283); the Nigerian National Commission against the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2020 (SB. 513); and the National Centre for the Coordination and Control of the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2021 (SB. 794). 

The three bills after scaling second reading respectively in the Senate, were all referred to the Committee on National Security and Intelligence for further legislative work.

The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Ibrahim Gobir (APC – Sokoto East), in a presentation on the floor, said the three bills seek to provide for the establishment of a government body that will be saddled with combating the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria.

According to him, the functions of the body shall be in line with Article 24 of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Convention on the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons which came into force in 2009.

The lawmaker added that the Committee on National Security and Intelligence resolved to consolidate the three bills into one.

He explained that doing so would adequately cater for the establishment of a commission to implement measures aimed at eradicating illicit arms. 

Gobir noted that establishing a commission against the proliferation of weapons stemmed from the need to immediately address the nation’s present state of insecurity.    

The National Commission Against the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2022 was passed by the Senate, after a clause-by-clause consideration of the committee’s report by the Committee of the Whole. 

In a related development, the Senate also Tuesday, passed the National Senior Secondary Education Commission Bill, 2022.

The bill’s passage was sequel to the consideration of a report by the Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary).

Senator Akon Eyakenyi (PDP – Akwa-Ibom South), in a presentation on behalf of the Committee’s Chairman, Senator Ibrahim Gaidam (APC – Yobe East), said the bill which has 33 clauses, seeks to repeal the existing Act on National Secondary Education Commission. 

According to Eyakenyi, the bill when assented into law, would strengthen the legislative framework for the functioning of the Senior Secondary Education sector. 

The lawmaker added: “It also seeks to address the unfortunate abandonment of the Senior Secondary Education in Nigeria in terms of regulatory and financial intervention which hitherto has been extended to Primary and Junior Secondary Education through UBEC, and the Tertiary Education Institutions through TETFUND, NBTE, NCCE.

“The bill also makes provision for the source of funding for the intervention and modalities for benefitting therefrom.”