The National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have taken the campaign against illicit arms to Government College Maiduguri.
The North-east zonal director of the NCCSALW, Rear Admiral Muhammed Shuwa (rtd), who spoke at the sensitisation talk yesterday in Maiduguri, highlighted the importance of educating youths on the danger associated with illicit arms right from school.
Shuwa, who was represented by Aminu Saleh, assistant director, Strategic Communications and Information, NCCSALW North-east, said the school-based sensitisation campaign against illicit arms was targeted at curtailing the menace at the grassroots.
He said that taking the enlightenment campaign to educational institutions has become necessary considering how young people were being recruited into terrorism and insurgent groups in the region, hence the need to tackle the problem.
Shuwa said that the NCCSALW has been working diligently with all arms-bearing security agencies and international partners to stem the tide of illegal arms proliferation in the region.
The zonal director said that the zonal office of the NCCSALW had embarked on a train-the-trainers programme, especially organised for youth corpers through NYSC Community Development Service Group.
He appreciated the efforts of the NYSC Small Arms and Light Weapons in sensitising the students and the general public to the dangers of illegal weapon use.
He explained to the students that the programme is part of the NCCSALW mandate of checkmating the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons hence it is partnering with stakeholders ,including the NYSC, to control the use and proliferation of such weapons in society.
He noted that the Boko Haram insurgency that had ravaged Borno and other states of the North-East resulted from the proliferation of weapons by the youths who used the same and inflicted deaths, pain and destroyed property of the people of the region.
” We have been working with the NYSC CDS Group to sensitise the populace on the dangers of illegal use of Small Arms and Light Weapons in society, ” he said.
Earlier, the president of the Borno State NYSC Small Arms and Light Weapons Community Development Service (CDS) group, Mr Ebaluana Cornelius Ogbiko, explained to the students that the small arms and light weapons were birthed as CDS under the leadership of the state coordinator, Comrade Mohammed Adamu Jiya in collaboration with the National Centre for the Control Of Small Arms and Light Weapons Northeast in March 23, 2024.
He said the sensitisation campaign for the students is aimed at equipping them and the entire populace with the knowledge on how to prevent each other from being harmed by those who handle these weapons,which are harmful or pose a threat to the people, homes, and communities.
He encouraged the students to choose their pen against gun for a peaceful society , saying that lectures delivered by the various speakers during the programme is an advise to them that the era of gun is gone.
He reminded the students to understand that the state and its people passed through pains as a result of the proliferation of the small arms and light weapons by the Boko Haram terrorists who tormented the citizens for years.
Also speaking, the state coordinator of the NYSC, Alhaji Mohammed Jiya, urged the students to champion the sensitisation campaign against illegal arms in their communities by asking anyone in their neighbourhood who owns a gun to drop it or report them.
Jiya, who was represented by the assistant director of Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneur Development, Mshelia Danjuma, lauded the NYSC CDS Group for making the NYSC proud through its advocacy on the dangers of small and light weapons to citizens of Borno State.
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