President Buhari has approved the establishment of a National Centre for the control of small arms and light weapons.
National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno, revealed this to State House Correspondents while briefing them at the end of Thursday’s meeting of the Council of State, chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said: “Based on my recommendation to the President, he has approved the establishment of a National Centre for the control of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria, to be domiciled in the office of the National Security Adviser. The centre will be akin to the Counter Terrorists Centre and also the Cybersecurity Centre, which are both domiciled in the office of the National Security Adviser.
“This Centre on control of arms will provide the strategic framework for containing the proliferation of small arms and light weapons especially those coming from across our borders especially within the West Africa sub-region and through the maritime environment.”
The NSA noted that when fully operational, the centre would work in compliance with already laid down international standards and ECOWAS moratorium on the control of small arms and light weapons.
“The office of the NSA will deal with not just the control of the inflow of these dangerous weapons and propellance but will also work on mopping up and disposing of those already in use,” Monguno said.
He stated that a law would soon be enacted to that effect, to give the needed legal backing to the centre and its activities.
Monguna also announced that President Buhari has directed that there should be improved synergy between the Armed Forces and other security agencies operating in the country.
“What this means is that there should be improvement in the synergy and collaboration between the Armed Forces on one hand and the intelligence agencies on the other hand while we simultaneously work with the para-military organisations,” he said.
Monguno stressed that the President has given the go ahead for the procurement of more arms and ammunition, to boost the fight against insurgency and other security challenges, adding that the office of the NSA is coordinating the use of drones to patrol the vast lands where bandits and kidnappers operate.
