Military Generals have commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for assenting to the Bill establishing the National Center for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) to mop up illegal arms in the country.
Major General James Nyam (Rtd) commended the government for providing legal backing for the centre, which has existed since 2021.
He said “The National Centre for the Control of Proliferation of Small and Light Weapons has been in existence since year 2021. It was backed by law and operated as a directorate under the Office of the National Security Adviser. So, funding of the CENTRE’s activities was becoming a challenge. What this Bill will do is to make more funds available for its activities. As to whether it will effectively tackle the proliferation, I cannot say because I have not been privileged to read through its Establishment Mandate,”.
Brigadier General Sani Usman (Rtd) said the assent to the Bill is a welcome development as it would be the key factor of insecurity, which is the proliferation of light and small weapons.
He said, “It is first and foremost a welcome development because the key to solving security challenges is to control the proliferation of small and medium arms in circulation. Remember, some time back, General Abdulsalami Abubakar said about six million such weapons are in circulation, and it is easier to arm than to disarm people, so it is very important and very commendable.
” However, it is good to follow through to ensure that all the necessary support is given to the centre to ensure that it performs optimally; the government should give them all necessary logistics and whatever support, but most importantly, public support and other tiers of government like the states and local governments and all MDAs because they cannot do it alone. They require public support.
He further charged security agencies to win the hearts of the people by discouraging the desire to acquire arms for self-defence.
“But most importantly, you cannot control arms in an atmosphere of insecurity, and they should encourage security agencies to do the best they can to reduce the menace of terrorism in the society, thereby making the ordinary citizens need to arm his/herself not necessary”.
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