The rising cases of armed struggles, including
militancy championed by the Niger Delta Avengers
(NDA), have been blamed on the poor
implementation of the Presidential Amnesty
Programme (PAP) and proliferation of Small Arms
and Lights Weapons (SALW) in the country.
This was disclosed in Abuja yesterday by the
Chairman, Presidential Committee on Small Arms
and Light Weapons (PRESCOM), Amb. Emmanuel
Imohe, during the Inter –Ministerial Roundtable on
the ATT in Nigeria organised in collaboration with
West African Action Network on Small Arms and
Light Weapons (WAANSA) and Control Arms
Coalition.
Imohe raised the alarm that Nigeria is awash with
SALW, stating that the implementation of the
Amnesty programme was poorly carried out in that
the militants might have returned knocked out
weapons in exchange for funds with which some
might have likely used to purchase more
sophisticated arms.
He said that while PAP initiative was a right move,
its execution did not align with the spirit and letter
of its initiators.
He said: “Something is wrong with the
implementation of the Amnesty Programme so that
the spirit does not tally with the letter of the
programme.
“There is no congruent in the two and I pray that as
the things stands in the Niger Delta, government
does not allow the crisis to degenerate further.
“Anybody who wants to resolve the security
situations in this country must first of all mop up
the weapons so that these groups does not have
access to them.
“The country is awash with small arms and light
weapons. So it is important for us as a country to
put up a system that can help mop up the weapons
in circulation.”
Imohe frowned at the poor level of ratification of
the Treaty by African countries despite the fact that
the region is bearing the highest burden of the
consequences of the unregulated trade on arms.
“It is important for us to embrace the ATT and to
know that Africa will be the most beneficial and
that’s why we compelled at the discussion leading
to the ATT for the SALW to be included. Small arms
is what has been killing our people.
“It is our weapons of mass destruction and that is
why I said ATT is a significant addition to all the
efforts against arms proliferation.”
Presently, he said, 130 countries are signatories to
the Treaty, out of which 86 countries have ratified
including 18 from Africa with 16 signatories.
