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Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in Nigeria has become a clear and present danger to the country’s security. The National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (retd), said this much recently when he supervised the symbolic destruction of over 3,000 illicit small and light weapons and associated materials in Kaduna. Monguno lamented that arms proliferation “has become a major source of vulnerability in our society and stands out as a key driver of violent conflict, crime and terrorism within and beyond our borders.”
Just the other day, President Muhammadu Buhari also raised the alarm that some of the arms used in the Russia/Ukraine war had also ended up in the Sahel region of West Africa, including Nigeria. Some of the weapons used in the Libyan conflict have also ended up in wrong hands in Nigeria. Experts estimate that the number of illicit arms in circulation in Nigeria is over six million. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had noted that illicit small arms and light weapons in Nigeria were about 70 per cent of the 500 million in West Africa.
The upcoming general election in 2023 is one major reason people are acquiring arms. Politicians are always desperate to win elections at all costs. So, they are ready to deploy thugs with weapons to disrupt election where they feel they have no chance of winning. Currently, some hoodlums have been burning some offices and electoral materials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). So far, over 50 INEC offices have reportedly been torched.
Porous borders also contribute to the problem. Many times, smugglers bring in goods, including weapons through our borders without any serious resistance from our security agencies. Sometimes, some of the security agents compromise our security by collecting bribes to allow people bring in contraband. Besides, people in charge of our armoury, sometimes, collude with criminals and sell weapons to them. An audit report of the Auditor-General of the Federation, dated September 15, 2021, indicated that about 178,459 different types of firearms and ammunition got missing from the Nigerian police armoury in 2019. The missing items, according to the report, include 88,078 AK47 rifles, 3,907 assorted rifles and pistols. As of January 2020, the items could not be accounted for as there was no formal report about their whereabouts nor could anyone ascertain the value of the lost firearms.
Unstable polity and agitations are part of the problem. In Nigeria today, there are sundry insurgent groups fighting the government and people of Nigeria. In the North-East, we have the Boko Haram terrorists. They have killed and maimed thousands of innocent citizens in their quest to enthrone their own Islamic system in the country. In the South-East, we have the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) agitating for independence. In the South-West, there are Yoruba self-determination groups as well. In the Niger Delta, there are militants fighting for one cause or the other. These groups, sometimes, get their funding from illicit transactions, especially from drugs. Recently, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) reportedly flagged transactions valued at over N150 trillion between January and March 2022. It is projected that this will further rise with the general election coming up in 2023.
It is obvious that when a country is not in control of arms circulating in its territory, that country is doomed. In other words, any country that is not in charge of its security is in trouble. Today, bandits and terrorists in Nigeria operate with sophisticated weapons such as grenade launchers, machine guns and anti-aircraft guns. In July 2021, for instance, bandits shot down a Nigerian Air Force jet in Zamfara State. Police hierarchy had, at different times, ordered disarmament and recovery of prohibited firearms and ammunition in the country. This has not yielded the desired result.
Government should do more to check influx of illegal arms into the country. The Central Bank of Nigeria should strengthen its monitoring capacity to ensure that the flow of illicit funds or money laundering is curbed in Nigeria. Financial institutions should share information with security agencies in order to track illicit transactions that lead to the acquisition of small arms.
The move by the House of Representatives to consider the creation of Centre for the Coordination and Control of Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Nigeria is in the right direction. The House Committee on National Security and Intelligence had recommended this measure recently in form of a bill to help in tackling insecurity in the country. The bill, first introduced in 2019, originated out of concerns at the flow of small arms into West Africa.
Last year, the Senate also passed the Firearms Act (Amendment) Bill 2021 that seeks to increase the fine and punishment for illegal importation and sale of firearms in Nigeria. In all, security agencies should be alert to their duties, especially with regard to intelligence gathering. They should be made to man the borders more effectively. We cannot wage this battle successfully without tightening the borders.
