As part of efforts to stem the tide of influx of small arms and ammunition into the Country, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the establishment of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, to be domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser, NSA.
For this reason, the Nigerian Navy is set to come back to the Seaports after over thirty years it left, with a view to establishing Port’s Commands.
This was made known by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Sambo, at a Webinar, which marked the first one hundred days of the new Service Chiefs in Office.
He said they had realized that arms are daily circulating indiscriminately and their effects are becoming very devastating, hence their coming back to correct some anomalies at the Seaports and to strictly secure the Country’s sea borders against influx of arms and light weapons.
Vice Admiral Sambo said, efforts at combating the urgly trend must be viewed with great concern while acknowledging the fact that, no Country can survive economically, socially and politically in an atmosphere of insecurity.
He expressed utmost concern about the role of the local arms Manufacturers which represents a major impediment to development on all fronts.
According to him, the thriving arms economy was only a blessing to the Mercenaries, Warlords and Bandits who use those weapons to unleash mayhems, hence the need to effectively check the trend by working with the Management of the Nigerian Ports Authority to establish port Commands at the Seaports.
The Nigerian Navy used to have a Base at the Ports, but had to exit for both the Nigerian Customs and the Immigration Services, some thirty years ago.
Olaoluwa Adekunle
