President Bola Tinubu has signed the Bill establishing the National Centre for the Control of small arms and light weapons (NCCSALW).
National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, who disclosed this on Tuesday, said the President’s assent to the bill was a major milestone in the government’s commitment to curbing the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.
Former President, Muhammadu Buhari, approved the establishment of NCCSALW in 2021, while the Nigerian Senate passed the bill seeking to establish the Centre on July 26, 2022.
Speaking at a workshop on gender mainstreaming in preventing the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria and West Africa, Ribadu stressed that the workshop was anchored on key international frameworks, including United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325.
“The ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons underscores the collective responsibility of our region in cutting the spread of these dangerous weapons, which disproportionately affect women and children in conflict zones”, he said, adding that, “the importance of gender mainstreaming in preventing the proliferation of SALW cannot be overstated as it strengthens our strategies, and ensures that our approach to security is inclusive and sustainable.”
National Coordinator of NCCSALW, DIG Johnson Kokumo (Rtd), said the centre has in recent times made some significant achievements in the fight against the illegal proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
Kokumo said the centre had on July 1, retrieved a substantial cache of illegal arms through the Nigeria Customs Service and subsequent arrest of 10 suspects involved in the illicit importation.
He said the suspects were currently being prosecuted by the NCCSALW for illegal importation into Nigeria, prohibited 544 firearms and 112,500 rounds of cartridges contrary to Section 3 (6) of Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M17 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 among other offences.
He disclosed further that the National Centre has retrieved a total of 3,383 decommissioned, unserviceable, obsolete and illicit small arms and light weapons and 26,749 various calibres of ammunition from the arms bearing agencies of the government.
“Later in this quarter, NCCSALW would be conducting an Arms Destruction Exercise which is a critical step in ensuring that recovered arms are permanently removed from circulation”, he added.
