Senate Passes Bill To Establish Commission Against Arms Proliferation

The Senate yesterday passed a bill to establish the National Commission for the Coordination and Control of the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons.

The passage of the National Commission Against the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2022, followed the consideration of a report by the Committee on National Security and Intelligence.

The bill is a consolidation of three bills – two private-member bills and one from the executive arm of government against the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.

They are: The Nigerian National Commission against the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2020(SB. 283); The Nigerian National Commission against the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2020 (SB. 513); and The National Centre for the Coordination and Control of the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2021 (SB. 794).

The three bills after scaling second reading, respectively, in the Senate, were all referred to the Committee on National Security and Intelligence for further legislative work.

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The chairman of the committee, Senator Ibrahim Gobir (APC – Sokoto East), in a presentation on the floor, said the three bills seek to provide for the establishment of a government body that will be saddled with combating the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria.

According to him, the functions of the body shall be in line with Article 24 of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Convention on the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons which came into force in 2009.

The lawmaker, added that the Committee on National Security and Intelligence, resolved to consolidate the three bills into one. He explained that doing so, would adequately cater for the establishment of a Commission to implement measures aimed at eradicating illicit arms.

Gobir noted that establishing a commission against proliferation of weapons stemmed from the need to immediately address the nation’s present state of insecurity.   The National Commission Against the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2022, was passed by the Senate, after a clause-by-clause consideration of the Committee’s report by the Committee of the Whole.