ABUJA — The National Security Adviser (NSA), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, has identified the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons as a major driver of insecurity, banditry, terrorism and communal violence in Nigeria.
Ribadu stated this on Thursday in Abuja at a workshop on lessons learnt from Nigeria’s 2016 National Baseline Survey on Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons.
The workshop was organised by the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA).
Represented by the Director of External Affairs in the Office of the NSA, Mr Solomon Feyintola, Ribadu said illicit weapons were sustaining violent criminal activities across different parts of the country.
He said the weapons were fuelling banditry in the North-West, communal and farmer-herder conflicts in the North-Central, while also strengthening criminal networks and the operational capacity of terrorist and insurgent groups in the North-East.
