Global Policy Forum

Nigeria records 30 violent clashes in 3 years

At the last count, more than 30 communal clashes, bordering on religious ethnic conflicts have been recorded throughout the country between 1999 and 2002 with each claiming hundreds of lives and properties, running into several millions of naira. Similarly, many people, including women and children had been displaced in the process, resulting in untold hardship and suffering for them. As the incidence of ethnic/religious conflicts becomes worrying, a national workshop on the methods and techniques of arms control through the promotion of a culture of peace in Nigeria was put together recently to find lasting solution to the menace.

The workshop was organised in the spirit of the agreement and moratorium on the importation, exportation and manufacture of light weapons signed by ECOWAS countries at Bamako, Mali, in November, 1996, at a conference organised by UNDP and UNIDIR. The moratorium had demanded that member countries set up a National Committee (NATCOM), to come up with ideas on the best way to curtail such violent conflicts.

The Moratorium is a voluntary confidence building measure made possible by the political will of the West African leaders to deal with the widespread availability and indiscriminate use of light weapons. The conceptual understanding of the Moratorium is based on the premise that economic and social development is dependent on a secure and stable political environment. This phenomenon has in turn given rise to new integrated and proportional approach to security and development, which explicitly links security, stability, human rights, disarmament and development.

The Nigerian government, conscious of the fact that effective development requires long-term stability and security, had long set up its own NATCOM headed by a Commissioner of Police, Lawrence Alobi, with the mandate to work with all stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the problem. Proliferation of arms, though a global problem, cannot be solved without internal/national action. It is believed that if each country evolves its own action and internal monitoring, it would go a long way to at least, reduce the problem.

The passing of a Resolution by the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, a subsidiary of UNESCO, on firearm regulation endorsed by 33 countries stated that realising that "firearms tend to flow from unregulated to regulated areas", there was need for all to work toward international standards on domestic control, as well as international standards to control the flow of small arms. The Federal Government of Nigeria, standing by UN Resolution 56/24, which adopted the programme of action to prevent, combat and eradicate illicit trade on small arms and light weapons (NCPSLAW), also set up on July 11, 2001, a body to carry out a feasibility study on this problem in Nigeria.

But inspite of all these efforts, the problem of arms proliferation in Nigeria has soared alarmingly lately and the question is how do all these arms, whether small or light, get into the country, given the number of security agencies and institution all over? In a paper presented at the workshop, the Minister of State for Defence (Army), Alhaji Lawal Batagarawa, said the problem of small arms proliferation was not only complex, it was sophisticated, global as well as a lucrative business, stating that to effectively control the problem requires coordinated efforts of all governments worldwide. The minister said regional and sub-regional governments efforts aimed at curbing the menace had not been effective because powerful organisations like the US National Rifle Association and Firearms Manufacturers Association were working against the measures with all their might.

The complex nature of the international firearms business, Batagarawa further said, was also closely associated with drug trade and money laundering known to be controlled by cartels headed by very rich, influential and highly criminal minded individuals. Some of them, connected to governments, he said, have become untouchables.

Added to that, the minister noted that the near total neglect suffered by most Nigerian security institutions, including the Nigeria Police, in the past two decades had in no small way weakened and incapacitated them so much that they lack the capacity to perform their roles effectively. Consequently, the Police Force, he said, is poorly trained, ill-equipped, and ill-motivated to face the present reality. Given this poor state of our Police and other security agencies, it is almost impossible for them to face well-equipped, organised, sophisticated and rich criminals, he added, noting that the problem of official arms sometimes finding their way into criminal hands by acts of omission or commission by those in official possession of them. The arms were stolen, borrowed or sold by government officials and security agencies.

Proliferation of arms, he said, is also resulting from the experiences of many Nigerians killed, maimed or harassed during ethnic, religious, political and other violent crimes, who having lost confidence in the ability of the police to protect them, resort to illegal possession of firearms for self protection.

Bankruptcy of our moral values and the corresponding increase in corruption and indiscipline over the years, which have created deep frustration and a sense of hopelessness among the generality of our active population especially the youths, coupled with religious intolerance, ethnicity and unhealthy struggle for power among the elites, he noted as well, were the major catalysts in the disruption of peace in Nigeria, regretting that poverty, political intolerance and insecurity have further encouraged the demand and use of firearms, thereby boosting the illegal trade.

He noted as well that illegal arms traffickers and local manufacturers, not minding the devasting effect, have continued to produce and import them for economic and selfish reasons. The woes brought upon the nation by wrong people possessing illicit arms, the minister, said, can never be quantified-in terms of lives, property and opportunities lost. The Deputy Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, Dr. (Mrs.) Aribisala, on her part, argued that though the problem of small arms proliferation was a global problem, the difference between the problem in Nigeria and other countries lies in the fact that people, take interest in slaughtering other people over the years, have never been brought to book to serve as deterrent to others, pointing out that _if there is a hiding place for those, who perpetrate evil, there will never be an end to the problem_. Movement of arms in the West Africa sub-region, she said, became easier with coming into effect of the trade liberalization, open-air agreement, transportation, and open border policy of the region, made the borders more porous, noting that the consequences of importation of small arms into the sub-region cannot be quantified, having been found to fuel insecurity, suspicion, destroy democracies, retard economic and social development, and other progress recorded in other areas while millions of dollars are lost in foreign investment. Apart from all the mentioned problem arising from the proliferation of illicit small arms, the most devastating effect is that it debases human rights and affects the vulnerable, especially children, teenagers, and women, Dr. Aribisala added. The light weight, transportability and ease of use of small arms and light weapons, she said, has facilitated one of the most abusive elements of contemporary armed conflicts notably the engagement of children as armed combatants.

She attempted a solution to the problem, stating that it was strongly believed that capacity building of the police was a necessity, to enable them effectively perform their statutory functions. The government, apart from evolving a viable social security system for its citizenry, she added, must seriously address the issue of economic and social problems associated with poverty, corruption, illiteracy, youth unemployment and marginalization just as serious efforts must be made to develop the border communities, which have always felt they had always felt that they have no stake in the country for lack of development in basic amenities. She suggested the need for security agencies at the borders to cooperate with each other and be equipped with modern communication and transportation facilities in order to enhance their operation. Also, a national arms registry should be established to regulate, monitor and control the use of firearms in Nigeria while the citizenry should be educated and enlightened on the need to develop and promote the culture of peace because small arms bring devastation, exacerbate conflict, spark refugee flow, undermine the rule of law, and spawn a culture of violence and impunity, she further submitted, arguing above all that small arms were threat to peace and development, democracy and human rights.