Governor urges probe into illicit arms

A state governor has urged Nigeria’s National Committee on the Proliferation and Illicit Trafficking in Small Arms and Light Weapons to investigate allegations that serving and retired military officers are involved in illicit arms deals, ‘The Guardian’ reported on Friday.

Governor Donald Duke of the southeastern state of Cross River told committee members that setting up special groups to monitor border towns and villages to track down illegal arms dealers was to little to stop the trade. He called on the committee, established by President Olusegun Obasanjo, to organise a massive information drive, aimed at traditional rulers and opinion leaders, on the dangers of possessing and trafficking in small arms.

One of the committee members, Inameti Yellow-Duke, said the trade in illegal small arms and light weapons was on the increase in Nigeria, the daily reported. Yellow-Duke, a retired army major general, warned that large quantities of illicit arms were continuing to fall into the wrong hands, posing a threat to Nigeria’s young democracy.

Over eight million small arms are estimated to be in circulation in West Africa, according to the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Lome, the Togo.