The South-West Coordinator of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), Mr. Sola Akinlade has appealed to Corps members to volunteer credible information that will aid the centre in its fight to control and prevent the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.
This appeal was made to the 2023 Batch C Stream II Corps members undergoing their Orientation Course at the NYSC Oyo Permanent Orientation Camp, Iseyin in a sensitisation lecture deliverd by Mr. Akinlade Sola, the South-West Coordinator of the arms control centre.
According to Akinlade, the approval of the establishment of the centre was given by former President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) on May 3, 2021 in accordance with Article 24 of ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons with the vision to promote Illicit arms-free society and rejig Nigeria’s security architecture to address emerging threats.
Akinlade intimated the Corps members with the operations of the centre with six zonal offices covering all the Geo political zones to neutralize and destroy small and light arms flying around the country in wrong hands.
He emphasized on the need for parents, well meaning individuals and Government to join hands to curb the menace of illegal fire arms saturated across the country by providing adequate training for children from homes not to get involved in criminal activities, providing necessary information and arresting situations.
Akinlade linked the genesis of illegal fire arms to the Nigeria civil war era where some of the weapons used found their ways into wrong hands after the war, while some came in to the country through smuggling and some are locally fabricated.
Reeling out security tips to Corps members, he advised them not to travel at night, always inform close relatives of their movement, be cautious of the friends they keep and use social media responsibly.
He mentioned high level of insecurity as a major disadvantage of illegal fire arms. He therefore urged Corps members to be good ambassadors of their family and join hands with the centre to curb this ugly scenario by saying something whenever they see something.
