Illegal Arms Threaten Nigeria’s Survival, Ex-Generals Warn
Canvass declaration of a state of emergency on illegal arms Challenge FG to work on supply side to stop arms inflow
Four retired generals of the Nigerian Army yesterday warned the federal government that Nigeria might cease to exist with over 6.145 million small arms and light weapons (SALW) illegally in circulation nationwide.
The ex-generals, therefore asked the federal government to declare a state of emergency on arms proliferation and try to stop them from coming into the country instead of focusing on the demand side only.
In separate interviews with THISDAY, the ex-generals warned that the growing trend of arms proliferation “portends grave threat to national peace and security if the federal government does not address it decisively.”
They are a former Commandant, Training and Doctrine Command, Nigerian Army, Maj.Gen. Ishola Williams; a one-time Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Defence, Maj.-Gen. Oluyemi Bajowa; and a retired General Officer Commanding, 1st Division, Maj.-Gen. Abiodun Role and an erstwhile Chief of Staff, Nigerian Army Infantry Corps Centre, Brig.-Gen Saleh Bala.
The Small Arms Survey, a publication of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, had put the number of small arms in the hands of civilian non-state actors nationwide at 6,145,000.
Another report by SMB Intelligence and Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) revealed that the armed forces and law enforcement agencies “collectively account for 586,600 firearms, representing about 8.71% of the total small arms and firearms in circulation.”
A former Head of State, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar, at a meeting of the National Peace Committee (NPC) in Abuja on April 8, stated that there were over six million weapons in the country.
Expressing grave concern about arms proliferation in the country, Bajowa warned that Nigeria might cease to exist if strategic measures were not adopted to address the challenge.
He observed that such a statement coming from a retired army general, a former Head of State and current Chairman of Nigeria Peace Committee portrayed the security situation in Nigeria, serious, scary, and worrisome.
In an asymmetric warfare situation, Bajowa revealed that six million are enough “to arm 6,000 battalions with each unit having a strength of about 1000 fighting men, or about one thousand five hundred (1,500) Brigades of four Battalions each or at worst three hundred and seventy-five (375) Divisions of 4 Brigades each.
“Such an illegal force, if properly organised and well commanded, can easily overrun a federation of 36 states. This is a situation
Nigeria can ill afford, particularly, in the face of the unguarded statements by some governors and high-profile individuals in respect of encouraging the arming of the citizenry for self-defence and protection of livestock.”
He, therefore, said it was a matter of national urgency “to rejig the security and intelligence architecture of the nation, by issuing a presidential directive, supported by the National Assembly, to declare a “national state of emergency.”
He, equally, recommended, a special operation for the Nigeria Armed Forces (NAF), Nigeria Police, and other security services, “to retrieve all weapons illegally imported or smuggled into Nigeria through our porous borders. Otherwise, we stand a risk of losing Nigeria, as a failed state.”
However, Williams, founder of Pan African Strategic and Policy ResearchGroup,disputedthereport that put the number of small arms in circulation at 6.145 million.
“If we have one million illegal arms in Nigeria, we will not sleep. It means it will outnumber the number of arms in the hand of the military and security agencies. With the situation that we have, it means that we are not working on the supply side of where the arms are coming from.”
He challenged the federal government “to work on the supply side, the arms will continue to come in. When arms come in and there is a ready market for them, it means it is a matter of demand and supply. What is the demand for? How well do military and security agencies protect the arms they carry?
“Aside, are those arms so cheap that anybody can afford to buy them when they come in? What are our intelligence systems doing either at the border or within the country? For instance, who authorised Fulani herdsmen to carry arms.