Nigerian Government Plans New National Survey On Illicit Arms, Weapons

The exercise is expected to provide updated data for government’s response to the proliferation of illegal weapons.

The Nigerian government has begun preparations for a new national survey to determine the scale and movement of illicit small arms and light weapons in Nigeria, a decade after the country conducted its first baseline survey in 2016.

The plan was disclosed on Wednesday in Abuja during a workshop organised by the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) to review lessons from the 2016 survey.

The exercise is expected to provide updated data for government’s response to the proliferation of illegal weapons.

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 spread of illicit weapons was linked to several forms of insecurity across the country.