The Presidency has charged the 36 States to take proactive measures in tackling the growing state of insecurity occasioned by illicit flow of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) through effective Disarmament, Demobilisation and Rehabilitation (DDR) programmes.
This was highlight of the opening of the 2-day National Dialogue on Civilian Disarmament tagged: “Initiating Dialogue with State Governments on Issues of Civil Disarmament”, organised by the Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PRESCOM) and Bonn International Centre for Conversion (BICC).
PRESCOM Chairman, Amb. Emmanuel Imohe, said that in strict geographic terms, the problems of possession and access to deadly weapons by sundry non-state actors have become a phenomenon, prevalent in most States in Nigeria.
He said: “The need to involve states in the arms disarmament project became imperative given that combating the manifestations of insecurity such as armed violence, terrorism, small arms and light weapons proliferation and trans-border criminality without a collaborative partnership with states and local governments communities was an exercise in futility.
“The dialogue session was initiated to moot the idea of disarmament programme to states government given that state governments have an indispensable role in helping to mop up weapons that been illegally acquired by several unauthorized elements in the society.”
Imohe while regretting that the problems of possession and access to deadly weapons by sundry non-state actors have become a phenomenon, prevalent in most states in the country, commended Benue, Rivers, Katsina, Imo, Zamfara and Kaduna states, for blazing the trail in the DDR programmes.
He continued: “The drive to acquire deadly weapons by communities either for their so-called self defence or for the pursuit of a peculiar agenda is degenerating into what is no classified as arms race leading to communal stockpile of deadly weapons
“At PRESCOM, we are reminded from time to time by individuals and groups who tell us that weapons are still every where in the country.
“This assertion is perhaps an expression of how awash the country has become as a result of the easy access that non-state actors have had to these deadly weapons.
“The problem is indeed profound but is not one which PRESCOM alone can resolve without support from other stakeholders.
“It is also not one which the Federal Government could by itself resolve without seeking the cooperation and collaboration of state governments.”
“The respective communities where Nigeria has experienced security challenges do not exist in a vacuum but are entities within given states”.
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