By Saminu Ibrahim
Chairman Senate committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Uba Sani has said the firearms Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021seeks to impose stiffer penalties for offences in the Principal Act and provide for the destruction of firearms imported illegally, or in possession of individuals without valid licences.
Specifically, he noted that the main aim of the proposed amendments is to curtail the proliferation of illegal arms and bring the existing law in line with global best practices.
Speaking at the public hearing on the firearms Act Amendment Bill 2021 and Exclusive Economic zones Act (Repeal and Re-enactment Bill 2021, organised by senate joint committee on judiciary, human rights and legal matters, Navy and marine transport on Monday in Abuja said the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC) report revealed that the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons in Nigeria has reached an alarming rate.
According to Sani “we are under siege from murderous Non-state actors. They have been acquiring arms, illegally, maiming our people, and threatening the continued existence of our dear nation.
“We either take measures to deny them of the oxygen that sustains their nefarious, or we watch helplessly as they overrun us and our country”.
Senator San, who is the sponsor of the bill enumerated objectives of the amendment bill to include; to establish a comprehensive and coordinated disarmament and arms destruction ceremony for Nigeria, to ensure that confiscated illegal firearms do not re-enter the society.
He continued; to provide for a stipulated time within which the destruction of unserviceable firearms must be carried out, to proffer an effective, coordinated and sustained legislative strategy to address the underlying factors encouraging the circulation of arms and concurrently block the outlets through which illicit firearms are proliferated among others.
The lawmaker however bemoaned that Nigeria is one of the countries experiencing some of the most devastating effects of the proliferation of illegal weapons as a result of spill over effects of the crises in Libya and Mali as well as unresolved internal conflicts in parts of the country.
