Nigerian Government Plans New National Survey On Illicit Arms, Weapons | Sahara Reporters

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.

Ribadu said such weapons had sustained banditry in the North-West, contributed to farmer-herder clashes in the North-Central, armed criminal gangs in urban areas and supported terrorist groups in the North-East.

“Government’s response to this threat cannot be based on guesswork. It must be built on evidence,” Ribadu said.

He said reliable national data would help security authorities track the movement of illicit weapons, improve counter-proliferation measures and better target disarmament efforts.

Ribadu also called for the involvement of security agencies, state and local authorities, traditional and religious institutions, civil society groups and communities in the new survey.

According to him, the exercise must draw information from different parts of society to provide a more accurate picture of the weapons circulating within communities and across Nigeria’s borders.

The Director and Deputy High Representative of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, Adedeji Ebo, said the data collected during the 2016 survey was no longer enough to assess Nigeria’s current security situation.

“You cannot conduct a solid national threat analysis in 2026 based solely on data from 2016,” Ebo said.

He said the absence of current data made it difficult for authorities to establish the scale of illicit weapons in circulation, identify their sources and track how they move across the country.

Ebo further urged the government to include information from traditional and religious leaders, women’s groups, youth associations, farmers, fishers, artisanal producers and survivors of armed violence, saying official records alone could not provide a complete picture.

The Director-General of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, retired DIG Johnson Kokumo, said Nigeria’s security situation had changed significantly since the first survey was conducted in 2016.

Kokumo said new forms of criminal activity had emerged while trafficking routes and methods had changed, making it necessary to reassess the country’s illicit weapons situation.

He said the 2016 survey helped shape national policy on small arms control, including the establishment of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons and the development of a National Action Plan.

The new survey is expected to provide the government with updated information to guide national security planning and efforts to control the spread of illicit small arms and light weapons across the country.