‘Over 6,000 illicit weapons recovered nationwide in three years’

The National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) said that it has successfully recovered and destroyed over 6,000 illicit and obsolete small and light weapons from various security agencies and operational theatres in the country in the last three years.

This is as the Nigerian Army stated that insecurity would have been solved if illicit weapons were taken away from various streets of the country.

At a one-day seminar with the theme, ‘Multisectoral synergy towards the control of proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria,’ held in Enugu, yesterday, South East Zonal Coordinator of the agency, Major General Okechukwu Ugo (rtd), stated that proliferation of arms was responsible for the untold human suffering in Nigeria.

He stated that the recoveries and destruction exercises, which were done in line with UN conventions have contributed to preventing the recycling of the illicit arms back into the society, thereby enhancing safety and security in Nigeria and globally.

Ugo said: “It is important to mention that these weapons do not cause conflict on their own. Rather, it is the easy access to them and the recklessness of their uses that make violence more lethal and conflicts more protracted. The small and light weapons have become weapons of choice for criminals, terrorists and bandits in Nigeria, and beyond posing a significant challenge to our country, especially in the wake of the many crises that have engulfed our geopolitical zone and nation at large.”

Ugo said that the seminar has been chosen to highlight the urgent need for collaboration and cooperation among stakeholders against the menace of illicit small and light weapons.

General Officer Commanding the 82 Division of the Nigeria Army, Enugu, Major Gen. Hassan Dada, stated that there is a need for cooperation of relevant agencies to eradicate the spread of illicit arms in the society.

A security consultant, Reginald Isiguzo, in a lecture, identified crises in Mali, Burkina Faso, Libya, porousness of international borders, regional militants such as the Movement for The Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEN, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Boko Haram, unknown gunmen, among others, as responsible for proliferation of illicit arms in Nigeria.

He also identified the activities of local manufacturers, unreliable data, poor management of government stockpiles, political and socio-economic factors, as well as loss of confidence in government as responsible for the rise, calling on government officials to work in synergy to track the trend.