Recently, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) seized a large consignment of arms and ammunition at Onne Port, Rivers State. The value of payable duty on the 40-foot container is N4.1billion. The NCS also seized drugs worth N13.9billion. According to the Comptroller-General of NCS, Adewale Adeniyi, the seized 844 rifles and 112,500 pieces of live ammunition were reportedly concealed within items, such as doors, furniture, plumbing fittings and leather bags, in the container, which originated from Turkey.
The arms and ammunition would be handed over to the Coordinator of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, under the office of the National Security Adviser for investigation and prosecution. Similarly, the NCS impounded another cache of arms and other military items at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos. The illegal items were also imported from Turkey.
It is laudable that the licences and permits for the operation of all the warehouses and terminals as well as those of their customs agents involved in these cases have been suspended pending the determination of their involvement. The NCS collaboration with other intelligence communities both at local, national and international levels, which led to the arms seizure, should be intensified and strengthened.
Those arrested in connection with the importation of illegal weapons into the country should be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted. Anyone found guilty must be punished according to the laws of the land. On no account should this matter be swept under the carpet in the usual Nigerian style of doing things. The big men behind the importation of small arms and light weapons must be apprehended and prosecuted. It is when the big names behind the smuggling of the illegal weapons are dealt with that will help to stop the menace.
We commend the leadership of the NCS for the arms seizures and urge the officers of the agency to work hard to rid the country of illegal arms and ammunition. According to the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC), “70 per cent of 500 million illegal arms in West Africa are in Nigeria, meaning that about 350 million of these weapons are in Nigeria.”
This revelation by UNREC clearly underscores the enormity of the proliferation of illegal arms and light weapons in the country. The matter is worsened by Nigeria’s porous borders. Available information shows that Nigeria has international land borders of about 4,470km and a coastline of 774km, which are largely unmanned by security officials. The porous nature of these borders has led to the influx of terrorists and bandits into the country.
A recent study by a UK-based independent investigative organisation, Conflict Armament Research, has revealed that most of the weapons used in herders-farmers conflict in Nigeria are smuggled into the country from Turkey, Libya and Ivory Coast. The federal government should take special note of this revelation and do something urgently to stop the importation of arms from the affected countries.
Therefore, we call on President Bola Tinubu to ensure that the nation’s porous borders are highly policed. Adequate policing of these borders will check the proliferation of illegal arms and weapons into the country. As the leader of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Tinubu and other heads of governments in the region should wage an offensive against the circulation of illegal arms and weapons, as well as a regional war against the festering terrorism.
The insecurity in the sub-region has fast passed what one individual country can effectively tackle alone. Nigeria should also enforce the law against illegal possession of arms and ensure that the culprits are severely punished. The unbridled proliferation of illegal arms and weapons in Nigeria is responsible for the festering insecurity, which is proving daunting to defeat. The federal government should strengthen the security agencies with modern equipment such as drones to contain the rising insecurity across the country.
Beyond equipping the troops with modern arms and ammunition, terrorism and insurgency are better handled with intelligence gathering, sharing and deployment of relevant technology. The war against banditry and terrorism has gone beyond the use of only kinetic and non-kinetic measures. This is the time for adequate deployment of drones, even to secure our porous borders. The establishment of state police will largely strengthen the nation’s security architecture.