Who's duty is security ?
The government? the country its citizens or God ? if a sociological survey is made to answer this question "who's duty securing a nation is" it would result to many varying thoughts stating where or to whom this task is saddled. It would not matter which fraction of thoughts you or I stand, we can from any angle realize the need for our terrains to remain secure and our land protected. Alas! The infrastructural state of the nations security in the hands of ill-governance and biased citizens would loose good way into the paths of insecurity.
As Nigeria contends with escalating insecurity, it has become obvious that unless the country mops up illicit arms circulating in its territory, citizens hope of sleeping with their two eyes closed might remain elusive. Daily, we see reports on many varying medias of the police or military interceptance of large volumes of live ammunition's while it was in transport to a certain location by questionable persons.
In a March 2017 research report titled, ‘The Human Cost of Uncontrolled Arms in Africa’, Oxfam had estimated that Nigeria had two million small and light arms in the hands on non-state actors. In October 2020, an Africa-focused geopolitical research firm, SBM Intelligence, also raised the alarm that the proliferation of small arms and ammunition was driving the increasing rate of violence in Nigeria.
In the report tagged, ‘Small Arms, Mass Atrocities and Migration in Nigeria’, the firm noted that “the number of small arms in circulation in Nigeria, in the hands of civilian non-state actors is estimated at 6,145,000, while the armed forces and law enforcement collectively account for 586,600 firearms.”
According to the report, the trend of arms proliferation in Nigeria has had an impact on her internal security, which has led to violence and the deaths and injury of thousands of innocent citizens.
A further testament to the harm arms proliferation was doing to Nigeria was the Global Terrorism Index 2020 report, which ranked it the third most terrorised country in the world due to insecurity. And truly, no region of the country can rightly be adjudged as safe currently.
Nowadays, if bandits are not attacking communities and kidnapping helpless residents, including students, Boko Haram terrorists or ‘unknown gunmen’, usually armed to the teeth, will be attacking security personnel and facilities, carting away every weapon they can lay their hands on in the process.
What is your take on the huge number of small arms and light weapons in circulation in the country?
SMALL arms proliferation, over the past decade in our nation, in my opinion, is fallout of events within the West African sub-region, particularly Nigeria.
Given our peculiarity (strategic, geographical, economic, political, etc), Nigeria is very visible to our friends and enemies. What transpires in the sub-region, and here home, is thus exploited, or taken advantage of, by our friends and foes alike.
Arms proliferation at the alarming rate we see today is thus a symbiosis of sorts, between renegade groups and enemies of our dear nation, within and outside Nigeria.
Unfortunately, our institutions do not appear to appraise these facts and effect the required safety measures abinitio, as is rife with us. We tend to wait and respond after the act, as opposed to preventive or preemptive measure, before the act. Call it “fire-brigade” approach.
Today, we are faced with a problem that was largely avoidable, as it were, if only a bit of proactivity was utilised. The indicators have always been there; all we need do way past was think ahead. Don’t forget, there are other countries in West Africa… hence why is Nigeria a preferred market for small arms?
How are these arms compounding insecurity?
The arms and the ends or means they are put to erode whatever is left of peaceful coexistence and security across board in our land. The compounding effect being the spiraling and collateral outcomes (immediate and mid-term) of these various criminal acts as they occur on our people citizens and nation.
How could these arms have come in undetected?
In one word: BORDERS! Nigeria has over 4,000 kilometres of land and sea borders, most of which are contiguous in nature. These borders cannot be “manually” policed, as we tend to.
Ours are borders that must be virtually manned by effective utilisation of available geo-surveillance options. Alas!
What can/should be done to mop up these arms? How can the new committee set up by the President go about its mandate and what advice to bearers of these arms?
Mopping up these arms has to be deliberate, decisive and highly sophisticated. The idea of encouraging the swapping of illegally obtained weapons for legal tender (money), as was done by a certain governor, is ill informed and retroactive.
You don’t disarm your adversary on the one hand and then empower him/her on the other to buy more.
Clear-cut and effective solutions for eradication of illegal arms abound, the mode and specifications of which are rather too sensitive for extrapolation here.
I would advice the committee, as set up by the Presidency, to look inward and reach out for these solutions. Put another way, the solution almost always lies within the problem.
How can these arms be mopped up?
Based on above, it is obvious that stopping the flow of illegal arms into Nigeria has to be a multi-pronged approach.
Firstly, let’s examine this short story: A farmer gets upset that wandering herdsmen destroy his crops. He seeks justice legally through law enforcement personnel and the courts. He gets no response. He decides to look for arms (illegally) to protect himself and his farmland. The next time the herdsman comes close to his farm, he shoots. The herdsman tries to get justice legally through law enforcement personnel and the courts. He gets no response. He decides to look for arms (illegally) to protect himself and his moving herd.
This cycle of attacks and reprisal attacks persist because of poor judicial system or at the very least, the lack of a conflict resolution structure. More effort needs to be put into conflict resolution. Ethnic and communal clashes, which are major sources of conflict, need to be properly attended to.
Secondly, the Nigerian government needs to send a strong message that smuggling weapons into the country will carry grave consequences but must also match that message with laser focus actions. Border security needs to be strengthened. Intelligence agencies need to do their part in studying the network, routes and finances used to smuggle illicit weapons into the country. Once these are identified and detected, ground interdiction forces must be able to conduct operations to catch perpetrators in the act.
Thirdly, tackling local arms manufacturers must be approached with a bit more tact. Weapons are going to be needed by the country’s military and law enforcement personnel. Local arms manufacturers could be positioned to fill in this supply gap, which will reduce the amount of money the country spends on procuring weapons from overseas. Legitimising some local weapons manufacturers will also assist the government in properly tracking weapons in circulation through serial numbers, and their owners.
Arms proliferation is an existential threat to the survival of Nigeria. Today, the biggest problem in the land is insecurity, which is also stoking secessionist agitations. It behooves the government to take aggressive actions to reduce the gravity of the threat.
I will suggest four solutions – (a) Arms buy back. The Federal Government should offer cash incentive for people to surrender illicit weapons. (b) Whistleblower programme. Citizens should be encouraged to report people possessing proliferated weapons such as AK47, AK49, FN rifles, etc. The whistle blowers should be rewarded. The government should establish a fund for this programme. (c) Border security. A lot of weapons come in through Nigeria’s extensive and unnamed land borders. The nation cannot fight arms proliferation if the borders are porous. The bad guys must be deterred, detected or denied.
The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) must revert to its historical role as a security agency and be returned to the Interior Ministry to bolster the security of the nation. It is unwise for NCS to make all the money, which will then be used in rebuilding assets lost to insecurity enabled by illicit arms that came across the border. Rather than raiding Dugbe Market for smuggled rice, NCS should be seizing truckload of illicit weapons trafficked into Nigeria from the Sahel. Small arms constitute a clear and present danger to Nigeria. (d) Military tribunals. Persons arrested for arms proliferation should face a military tribunal for swift justice. And if a proliferated weapon is used in committing homicide, the suspect upon conviction should be sentenced to death. Desperate ailments demand desperate remedy.
Our security is a thing most paramount! the move to curb insecurity most be taken, going lightly on this action is tantamount to placing a bandage on an ulcer. The wound will continue to fester…unfortunately.
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