The Director of the Southwest zone of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, NCCSALW, CP Abiodun Alamutu (retd) has called on the Nigeria Police Force and Nigerians as a whole to join the efforts of his organization to stop the inflows of small arms and light weapons into the country. He made this call when he paid a courtesy visit to the Commissioner of Police in Lagos, CP Olohundare Moshood Jimoh at the State Command HQ, Ikeja yesterday, National Association of Online Security News Publishers, NAOSNP can report.
The former CP of Ogun State, Abiodun Alamutu (retd) addressing the Lagos CP said: ‘Since my assumption of duty over seven months ago, we have always had reason to visit Lagos on official assignment because Lagos is perhaps the epicenter of activities, but unfortunately, I’ve never had the privilege of meeting you officially, and it has always been a source of concern. This explains why I deem it essential to be here today with my team. We have come to realize in the course of interacting with stakeholders that not much is known about the Center, and it is important we familiarize ourselves so that we can get better understanding and enjoying working relationships.’
He recalled the reason behind the establishment of the NCCSALW stating, ‘You will all agree with me that for some time, the country has been witnessing different forms of unrest ranging from terrorism in the north, secessionist agitation in the East, Oodua Republic only in the west, and the fact that Nigeria shares borders with Benin, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, and those contiguous countries equally having one kind of unrest on the other. Chad shares borders with Libya and Sudan and our borders are porous because it is estimated that we have 84 internationally recognized land borders but upwards of 1400 illegal routes to access the country. All these factors make the Federal Government find it crucial to form the National Center for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons which is to prevent and control the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in our society.’
‘The Center was established on the 3rd of May 2021, by the then President and Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammad Buhari GCFR, in accordance with Article 24 of the ECOWAS Convention on Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons. This establishment was made via a verbal directive. However, the bill establishing the center was assented in 2024 by the incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR. The Center is domiciled in the Office of National Security Adviser, and is saddled with the responsibility of preventing and controlling the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.’
‘We have offices in the Six geopolitical zones of the country. I represent the South West. Our personnel are drawn from all security agencies, particularly the Nigerian Army, Navy, Air Force, the Nigeria Police, DSS and other security agencies. We are here today primarily to seek for your support and to join us in the fight against the proliferation of small arms and light weapons. We have been having functional relationships with the military and the Nigeria Customs, I believe Lagos being the center of excellence, you will align with us and in the near future, the other Commands will join the flame too’, the NCCSALW Southwest director said.
In his response, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Olohundare Moshood Jimoh shared: ‘I want to start by going into the United Nation Convention and when you talk of International Law and Diplomacy, that there is prohibition of small arms and light weapons which are weapons that can be carried personally and that can cause massive death equally. Heavy weapons are the artillery, armor tanks, affiliate drones and other things that can cause massive destruction and damage.’.
‘It is a welcome development that you are here with us today, not only because of your cause but equally, to bring to the mind of my officers the reality on ground and on the responsibility for which the Center is charged with. If you have a population of 22 – 25 million people, which is more than five or six states put together, then it must be a thing of concern. We have been recovering quite a number of weapons on a regular basis, especially from the tactical squad, from the locally-made to foreign-made, you cannot even distinguish nowadays because the locals are so effectively fabricated that we will still have to look at the source.’
‘I want to assure you that we are going to collaborate with you 100% in what you are doing, we know the job of policing is very wide, there’s no agency of government that has the wide discretionary power like the Police. We are familiar with our responsibility and we will be helping you in this regard. Outside the mandate of the organization, if there’s anything that we can still do to ensure that your operations and activities are very successful in the South West, we’ll be willing to do so. We are happy that you are here. Thank you so much’, CP Jimoh concluded.
Categories: Security