“Over 2million Fireams in Nigeria” – WAANSA

President of the West Africa Action Network on Small Arms, WAANSA, and a Member of the Nigerian Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons, PRESCOM, Nkemakonam Dickson Orji, has revealed the number of small arms in Nigeria.

The Small Arms Survey Group in Geneva to the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), including Oxfam, Grip and other researchers and international NGOs indicated that over the years there have been over 690 million illicit Small and Light Weapons (SALW) in circulation across the world.

Orji said: “They claim that approximately 100 million of these weapons are in sub-Saharan Africa, 8-9 million in West Africa and 2 to 3 million in Nigeria.”

He said he is aware that the Presidential Committee on SALW is currently conducting a comprehensive national SALW survey in Nigeria to ascertain the true figure, and understand the gravity of the proliferation in order to develop a suitable national action plan.

Orji said locally-made weapons are not too popular with insurgents, but mainly found with armed robbers, kidnappers and cults across the country.

He said that the current Nigerian firearms Act was adopted during colonial rule in 1959, which makes it obsolete and unable to tackle present-day security challenges. “It is also very important that offenders are made to face the law,” he added.