FG To Conduct Baseline Survey On Small Arms After Ten Years

Adenuga Toheeb Ayoola

The Federal Government has unveiled plans for a new National Baseline Survey on small arms and light weapons, 10 years after the country conducted its first survey in 2016.

The development was disclosed at a one-day workshop on Wednesday in Abuja to review lessons from the 2016 exercise, organised by the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons.

Speaking at the event, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, represented by the Director of External Affairs, Solomon Fehintola, said the spread of illicit weapons was directly linked to insecurity across the country. He said such arms sustain banditry in the North-West, fuel farmer-herder clashes in the North-Central, arm criminal gangs in cities and support terrorist groups in the North-East.

He said, “Government’s response to this threat cannot be based on guesswork. It must be built on evidence.The next survey must therefore be designed to draw on all these sources of knowledge and information.”

The Director/Deputy High Representative of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, Adedeji Ebo, said the 2016 data was no longer sufficient for assessing Nigeria’s current security threats, given the significant changes in the country’s security landscape over the past decade.

The Director-General of the NCCSALW, retired DIG Johnson Kokumo, said patterns of armed violence had changed, new forms of criminality had emerged, and trafficking routes had adapted since the last exercise. He noted that the 2016 survey helped shape national policy, including the establishment of the NCCSALW and the development of a National Action Plan on small arms control.

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