May 14, 2018

The President of West African Action Network on Small Arms (WAANSA), Nigeria Chapter, Mr Jeptha Asimole, has called on President  Muhammadu Buhari to speed up the establishment of National Commission on Control of small Arms in the country

Asimole made the call when he led members of the organisation on a courtesy visit to the Managing Director of NAN, Mr Bayo Onanuga on Monday in Abuja.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for setting up a committee on the control of arms.

“We want him to establish the commission because  it will help in tackling the issue of small arms in the country,“he said.

He said that Nigeria was a signatory to Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) but was yet to domesticate it.

“We are asking the National Assembly and the Executive to do something to establish the national commission on control of  arms.

“In 2009 there was ECOWAS Convention for member states to establish National Commission for the Control of Arms, as we speak it is only Nigeria and Gambia that are yet to do that,“he said.

The president, who commended the police for mopping up illegal arms in the country, said that there was the need to properly document the recovered arms.

He said that this was to forestall the return of the recovered arms to the hands of non-state actors.

Asimole called for partnership with the Nigeria Police Force to document the mop up arms.

“We want to know how many arms  the police have been able to mop up since the exercise  began,“he said.

He said that the organisation would take the campaign to the grassroots and higher institution to sensitise them on the need to avoid gun violence.

He called for collaboration with NAN to publicise activities of the organisation.

“We want to collaborate with NAN in publicising our activities, we cannot do it alone neither can the security agencies do it.

“We must all join hands to fight against proliferation of small arms and light weapons,“he said.

Asomile said that the organisation had carried out the campaign on the mopping up of illegal firearms in the country.

Responding, Onanuga said that NAN was ready to collaborate with the organisation to project its activities.

He noted that the violence was escalating in the country because all the “tools “of violence were readily available’’.

Onanuga said that there was the need to look at the root causes of the violence in the country.

He advised the organisation to find a way to dissuade Nigerians from carrying arms, adding that it had to look at the reasons for it.

“On our part we are willing to collaborate with you to publicise all your activities as we and we are in the position  to do so,“he said.

NAN reports that WAANSA, a member of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), a global movement against gun violence which has its regional office in Accra.

IANSA which links organisations working to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons has its head office in New York.