"Over 5m illegal firearms circulating in Southwest’

By Victor Idajili

The Southwest Zonal Director of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), Abiodun Alamutu, has raised concerns that over five million illegal firearms may be in circulation across the region, describing the proliferation of small arms as a major driver of insecurity in Nigeria.

Alamutu, a retired Commissioner of Police, spoke in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Thursday during a one-day seminar organised by the agency on effective post-judgement management of small arms and light weapons.

He said, “The major enabler of insecurity, banditry, terrorism in the country is the proliferation of small arms and light weapons… a large chunk of these arms are in the hands of non-state actors.”

According to him, while significant progress has been made in intercepting weapons at Nigeria’s borders, authorities are now shifting focus to retrieving arms already in circulation.

“The bulk of the successes we have recorded have been at the border points… But now, we want to divert our attention to mopping up those that are already in circulation,” he said.

Alamutu emphasised the need for collaboration with local stakeholders, including traditional rulers, community leaders, and civil society groups, to encourage voluntary surrender of weapons.

“Some claim the estimate is up to five million, but we cannot say categorically… but from records available, it falls within or quite above five million,” he said.

He also pointed to porous borders as a major challenge, despite what he described as existing political will.