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By: Manoah Kikekon
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| Mr. Ben Shola Akinlade |
Mr. Ben Shola Akinlade, retired DIS director and Zonal Coordinator, South West National Centre for control of Small Arms and Large Weapons, said Nigerians should not hesitate to give security agencies any information that will threaten the peace of the nation.
He disclosed this on Wednesday during a visit to the joint border security agencies at Seme border, Badagry, Lagos, Nigeria.
He said the agency is currently sensitising security agencies and Nigerians on the need to be more vigilant, as there are several small arms and light weapons, and that if they see something, they should inform the security agency.
Akinlade said, "Seme border, is an international border when you look at what my agency is doing, is to control the proliferation of elicit arms. Once they are not manufactured locally, they will have to come through the border, not necessarily by air but through the land borders, because the border is so long and porous.
We are here to synergize with the heads of security agencies for quick detection and reporting of some of the arms passing through this corridor, and from what they have said, they have promised to synergize and direct their operatives on the need to be more vigilant at the border so that things will not cross or enter.
They are the action agencies, they are the ones to do it. Our own is to collect the data and do the needful, by destroying it, profiling it, and keeping it safe so it does not get back to society.
He said, in the last one year, the military has submitted thousands of elicit arms that were collected through the clearance operation, "The IG recently, through all the CPs, came with all guns that weren't under investigation to the headquarters, which was handed over to the National Coordinator, and likewise the Air Force, the same thing Naval and Air Force in the South East."
Customs Comptroller Timi Bomodi of Seme Area Command said, "There is a need to have a national registry for small arms and light weapons that incorporates registers of all arms with military and paramilitary agencies to the effect of auditing. Because it is possible that some of these weapons can get missing in the process of either riot mayhem or breakdown of law and order. If there's no regular audit of these officially assigned weapons, there is the possibility of abuse. The registry will make it difficult for any officer to play games. It will also help us keep track of missing arms, which will make the officers accountable for their arms."
"Those that are arrested for arm related crimes are a huge data element that should be exploited even if, to have a plea bargain, we have to go beyond taking them to court and executing them. We should get the data they have and make use of it," he added.