Otunba Winjobi at CAFSO-WRAG Roundtable, urges govt to monitor firearms owners, confiscate guns from those abusing the opportunity

*AN ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY TOLA WINJOBI (PhD) PRINCIPAL COORDINATOR CAFSO-WRAG FOR DEVELOPMENT AT ONE-DAY ROUNDTABLE CONSULTATION ON CURBING GUN VIOLENCE AND CURTAILING SMALL ARMS AND LIGHT WEAPONS (SALW) IN NIGERIA BEING AN AWARENESS RAISING EVENT AT OTUNBA SUBOMI BALOGUN CONFERENCE CENTRE, U.I. HOTELS, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, IBADAN NIGERIA ON THURSDAY 3RD OF APRIL 2025.

I am delighted to welcome you to this roundtable meeting where we need to have conversations around the issue of gun violence and small arms and light weapons in Nigeria.
This brief is for the benefit of those who are not familiar with the two organisations leading this process.

Established in 1994 in Ibadan, CAFSO-WRAG for Development is a Nigerian-based human rights and development organization campaigning against all structures and institutions perpetrating poverty and preventable diseases, and for the fulfilment of all human rights. Its vision is a society free of injustice, human rights abuse, poverty, hunger and preventable diseases for sustainable human and environmental development while its mission is to campaign for the fulfilment of rights, ecological protection and human development in all ramifications. CAFSO is a founding member of IANSA established about 1998, and has its name listed in IANSA’s Who’s Who in Gun Violence Prevention, published in 2004.

Founded in 1998 but registered as a legal entity in London in 2002, and now with a liaison office in the US and regional office in Ghana, International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) promotes advocacy internationally for an end to the proliferation and misuse of small arms.
It is a global movement against gun violence, linking civil society organisations working to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons.
It represents the voices of civil society on the international stage, for example in the UN process on small arms, and draws on the practical experience of its members to campaign for policies that will protect human security. IANSA is an organization I encourage you to join @ https://iansa.org/join/ so you can be part of those member NGOs thinking globally but acting locally in order to unite against gun violence and curtail illicit flow of small arms and light weapons so that there might be peace in our world.

CAFSO in collaboration with IANSA is set to contribute to controlling gun violence and SALW and ensuring the full and effective implementation of the Programme of Action on Small Arms (PoA) and the International Tracing Instrument (ITI), to strengthen civil society engagement following the successful conclusion of the Fourth Review Conference on the UN Programme of Action (RevCon4) and the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on Peace and Disarmament. At this roundtable, we are bringing together specifically the representatives of the National Centre for the Control of SALW, the Oyo State Executive Arm of government, House Committee on Security, Nigeria Police, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Southwest Security Network(SWSN) code named Amotekun Corps, and civil society actors to brainstorm on curbing gun violence and curtailing SALW in our country.

This strategy would achieve two aims: awareness raising on SALW and armed violence in Nigeria; and to push for the effective implementation of UN PoA and ITI, problems related to SALW and armed violence based on national and regional priorities, targets, strategies, and action plans.
Gun violence and proliferation of small arms and light weapons are a global phenomenon.
SALW are playing a deadly role in conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, between Israel and Palestine, and across some countries in Africa including Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Mali, and in Northern Nigeria including Benue, Plateau, Zamfara, Sokoto, Yobe, Adamawa and Borno States in particular.
Rampant in our country are sectarian conflicts, mindless killings by herdsmen, terrorists’ wanton destruction of lives and property, kidnappers’ threats and actual killings of their victims, armed robbers waylaying commuters and gruesome murder on the street and at home.
Apart from the perpetration of gun violence by non-state actors against fellow citizens, it is despicable and condemnable in entirety the use of gun violence by state actors.
We have heard many times of accidental discharges by police guns. And there is palpable evidence of the use of gun by security operatives against innocent citizens who were protesting bad governance and police brutality.
The agonising memory of End SARS protest of October 2020 is still fresh in our memory. According to Daily Trust on Sunday, between 2020 and 2022 at least 148 civilians were killed by security forces.

Breaking this figure down, 49 citizens were murdered in 2020, 43 in 2021 and 50 in the first three quarters of 2022. Amnesty International in its 2021 report indicated that between March and June 2021 not less than 115 people were killed by security forces in the southeastern zone of Nigeria.
Inflow of illicit weapons has been of a grave concern to stakeholders in Nigerian making
Nigerian government on May 3, 2021 set up the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) which is in line with Article 24 of ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons. NCCSALW is set to enhance collaborative efforts with local and international partners, ensuring that strategies are robust, inclusive and effective.
The Centre works closely with all stakeholders: CSOs, government agencies, security forces, and relevant international bodies in order to fortify defenses against the threats posed by unregulated arms and curtail illicit arms flows in Nigeria.
In view of the destructive effect of small arms and light weapons, paramount is the need to curb gun violence and control the inflow of illicit weapons in Nigeria. Nigeria already has her own biting economic hardship and gun violence should not ossify it.
I call on the federal government to strengthen border security and patrol by increasing the number of officers, kit them and supply them with equipment back up with training and incentives in order to encourage them.
While collaborating with neighbouring countries to share intelligence and coordinate efforts to combat arms smuggling, government should deploy advanced technologies such as scanning gadgets, drones, sensors, CCTV camera in order to monitor and detect illicit activities going on along various borders. Border vigilance should be taken seriously as it beats logic for Nigeria Customs combing nooks and crannies of the country looking for illicit arms whereas they are negligent of the porous borders.
It is important for the National Centre for the Control of Arms to collaborate and share intelligence with critical stakeholders such as police, army, NSDC, Nigerian Customs, forensic agencies and Amotekun so as to gather, analyse, report and use information and data on arms smuggling networks operating onsite and online.

Without the cooperation of those critical arms control stakeholders, Nigeria is doomed as it could be invaded in no small time while our territorial integrity is jeopardised.
Government should strengthen laws associated with gun ownership while those found to be emotional and psychologically unfit should be denied licence.
Appropriate records on gun purchases including profiling, number of guns in the country, private and public purchases should be taken while government should monitor firearms owners and confiscate guns from those found to be abusing the opportunity. There should not be sacred cows in sanctioning offenders regardless of ethnic group involved. Tacit authorisation in carrying AK47 by a section of an ethnic group in our country threatening and killing armless farmers should be decried while such individuals caught should face the music.
All of the time, age sometimes does not apply in the misuse of firearms as it has been found out that most of the incidents of misuse of firearms are traceable to young adult and over that age bracket. Some adults are not mentally fit to handle machetes let alone fire arms.
As a result, the need to improve on the mental health of gun handlers including compulsory psychiatric test is necessary. Government should allocate resources to accessible and affordable mental health services including counselling, therapy and crisis intervention for vulnerable population.
Government should address the issue of socio-economic conditions of the country which are exacerbating poverty, joblessness, infrastructural deficit, insecurity, and sectarian conflicts facing Nigerians.
To be frank, President Tinubu’s policies wear no human rights face. A hungry man is an angry man while devil finds work for an idle hand.

Some youth go into crime and criminality on account of desperation to eke out a living. They are not blind to the opulent and larger than life the politicians are living at the expense of the electorate and our maligned youth whose future has been mortgaged by the former.
While the president appreciates the pains Nigerians are undergoing as a result of his deliberate draconian socio-economic policies, he should walk the talk by demonstrating this appreciation by cutting down his over bloated governance expenses and those of political appointees and especially the national assembly which is more or less an extension of the presidency.
Police Community Relations should be established where not in existence while it should be supported with community surveillance where suspicious activities should be reported to the security operatives accordingly.
Apart from night watch initiatives, community should organize neighbourhood watch in day time so as to check-mate pretentious individuals sauntering around with mischievous intentions. Special attention should be paid to scavengers especially those iron mongers locally called bola who hide under the cloak of hunting for disused pieces of iron and metals but hide weapons in their trucks. With the support of civil society and security experts, community members should undergo training around engaging youth in productive activities, community security, surveillance strategy, conflict resolution, self-defence tactics, use of dane guns and other defence implements.
It is also necessary each community or landlord-resident association draw up a register of residents containing vital information that could be shared with the police when necessary.
Finally, the federal government should exercise political will to support and implement the outcome of RevCon4 Seven Advocacy Points on the UN Programme of Action (UNPoA) on Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its aspects that was held from 18-28 June 2024. The seven key advocacy issues are: strengthening transfer controls; controlling SALW ammunition; collecting, destroying, and safely disposing of surplus SALW and ammunition; mainstreaming gender; engaging with youth; setting national and regional targets; and controlling the civilian possession of SALW.
I wish you all successful and robust deliberations and meaningful outcome.
Thank you for your attention.

*Otunba David Tola Winjobi (PhD)
Principal Coordinator, CAFSO-WRAG for Development
tolawinjobi59@gmail.com +2348030618326