The Nigerian military says lack of armouries by neighbouring countries makes it difficult to fight proliferation of arms in the Africa.
It said the situation is also compounding Nigeria’s security problem.
Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, said this on Monday at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives committee on national security and intelligence on the consideration of four security bills.
“So most of their arms that are being donated to them by the developed countries in the name of assisting us are compounding our problems in Nigeria because you find out that each average Chadian soldier has 20 to 30 arms underneath his bed. When he is broke, he brings it out and sells it for $30, $20,” Gambo said.
“Since we are going to collaborate with ECOWAS and other countries that are donating such arms to these countries, I think we should insist that they should either enact laws to govern the handling of these arms and ammunition or build an armoury for these countries or else we will not see peace.”
On the bill to establish integration of private close circuit television (CCTV) to fight insecurity, he said, “I think we should build a wall between us and these neighbouring countries or we should have serious surveillance or else we will not see peace in this country. I am telling you this, I have been in that area for years, so I know what is happening.”
Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila, said “knowledge would be drawn from everywhere,” because security is an important national issue.
“The security agencies are welcome to make submissions but everyone is welcome to submit as well. I say so because I want to underscore the fact that security is about everyone and we are all stakeholders,” he said.
