FG Plans Fresh Survey on Illicit Small Arms, Light Weapons – ONSA
The Federal Government has commenced preparations for a new National Baseline Survey on illicit small arms and light weapons, 10 years after Nigeria conducted its first such exercise in 2016.
The initiative was disclosed on Wednesday in Abuja at a one-day workshop organised by the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) to review lessons from the 2016 baseline survey and consider priorities for the proposed exercise.
Speaking at the workshop, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, represented by the Director of External Affairs at the Office of the National Security Adviser, Solomon Fehintola, said the proliferation of illicit weapons remained a major driver of insecurity across the country.
Ribadu linked the availability of illegal arms to banditry in the North-West, farmer-herder conflicts in the North-Central, urban criminality and the activities of terrorist groups in the North-East.
He stressed that the government could no longer effectively address the illicit arms problem without reliable and up-to-date data.
“Government’s response to this threat cannot be based on guesswork. It must be built on evidence,” he said.
The NSA described an accurate national baseline as a strategic national security asset capable of strengthening the government’s ability to track illicit weapons flows and better target counter-proliferation and disarmament measures.
According to him, the exercise must involve all relevant stakeholders, including security agencies, state and local governments, traditional and religious institutions, civil society organisations and affected communities.
“First, an accurate and credible baseline is a strategic national security asset. It sharpens the targeting of counter-proliferation and disarmament efforts and strengthens our ability to track the flow of illicit weapons across our borders and within our communities,” he said.
“Second, this must remain a whole-of-government and whole-of-society effort. Security agencies, sub-national governments, traditional and religious institutions, civil society organisations and communities themselves must all contribute to the process.
“The next survey must therefore be designed to draw on all these sources of knowledge and information.”
Also speaking, the Director and Deputy High Representative of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, Adedeji Ebo, said the data generated by the 2016 survey was no longer adequate for assessing Nigeria’s current security environment.
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He argued that significant changes in the country’s security landscape over the past decade had made an updated assessment imperative.
“You cannot conduct a solid national threat analysis in 2026 based solely on data from 2016,” Ebo said.
He said the absence of current data had constrained the precision of government responses, particularly in determining the scale of illicit weapons in circulation, their sources and movement across the country.
Ebo further urged the government to ensure that the new survey goes beyond official records by incorporating information from communities and groups with first-hand knowledge of armed violence and illicit weapons.
He emphasised the need for credible sampling, properly trained enumerators and adequate security arrangements for personnel involved in data collection, particularly in conflict-affected communities.
“Secondly, there is the issue of inclusion. The picture will be incomplete if it is drawn solely from official records,” he said.
He identified traditional and religious leaders, women’s organisations, youth associations, farmers, fishers, artisanal producers and survivors of armed violence as important sources of information that could complement official databases.
The Director-General of the NCCSALW, retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police Johnson Kokumo, said Nigeria’s security environment had changed considerably since the 2016 National Baseline Survey.
According to him, the nature and patterns of armed violence have evolved, new forms of criminality have emerged, while trafficking routes and methods have adapted to changing security conditions.
“Nigeria’s security environment has evolved considerably. The nature and patterns of armed violence have changed. New forms of criminality have emerged, trafficking routes and methods have adapted, while illicit weapons proliferation continues to interact with political, social, economic, environmental and security challenges,” Kokumo said.
He noted that the 2016 survey represented a significant milestone in Nigeria’s efforts to address the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, providing a basis for subsequent policy interventions.
Kokumo said the findings of the earlier exercise contributed to the establishment of the NCCSALW and the development of the National Action Plan on small arms control.
The proposed survey is expected to provide updated evidence on the scale, sources, movement and patterns of illicit small arms and light weapons in Nigeria and strengthen national efforts to curb their proliferation.
By PRNigeria
