A former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, has raised an alarm over the proliferation of weapons in the country, saying an estimated six million arms are circulating illegally.
Abubakar, who is also the chairman of the National Peace Committee, disclosed this at a dialogue session of the committee with key stakeholders in Abuja on Wednesday.
He stated that the proliferation of weapons has heightened insecurity in the country and led to over 80,000 deaths.
Abdulsalami said challenges facing the country is not only insecurity in the narrow sense of the military definition but that it has assumed an all-encompassing nature.
He listed these challenges to include the Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, increasing poverty, calls for the balkanisation of the country from different quarters, threat of hunger arising from the insecurity that farmers have faced and continue to face, increasing sense of collective despair and despondency among the populace.
“The proliferation of all calibre of weapons not only in our sub-region in general and in Nigeria, in particular, is worrying. It is estimated that there are over six million such weapons in circulation in the country.
“This certainly exacerbated the insecurity that led to over 80,000 deaths and close to three million internally displaced persons,” Abubakar said.
The ex-military Head of State, while assessing the security situation, said the security forces are not just overstretched but underfunded.
He said the security agencies can perform better with more sophisticated weapons, equipment and funding.
He said, “We believe Nigeria must find a way out of these problems. Our hope is that perhaps among us, by listening to your different perspectives, we can begin to build up confidence among our people so that we can hold together.
“So our hope is that we shall not only share our collective lamentations about the current situation but propose some concrete suggestions that can point the way forward, suggestions that can inspire more confidence among our people and ensure that our country remains one.”
He added that President Muhammadu Buhari was aware of the meeting and that he supported it.
The meeting was attended by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III; John Cardinal Onaiyekan; Ekiti State governor and chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Kayode Fayemi; Plateau State governor and chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Simon Lalong; religious leaders, service chiefs, top military brass, police chiefs, among others.
