Tackling insecurity and imperative of arms control

By Sumaila Ogbaje, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
Proliferation of small arms and light weapons have become a global challenge. This is due to light weapons lethal efficiency, easy accessibility, indiscriminate usage and devastating havocs they wreak.

According to Small Arms Survey of 2018, cited by SB Morgans Report on Small Arms, Mass Atrocities and Migration in Nigeria, there are over 40,009,000 small arms in the hands of civilians or non-state actors in Africa.

The report added that 10,972,000 of that number are concentrated in West Africa, where Nigeria is the most populous and dominant power.
The report also puts arms in the hands of civilian non-state actors at 6,145,000, while the armed forces and law enforcement collectively account for 586,600 firearms.
According to the report, this worrying trend of arms proliferation has an impact on Nigerias internal security.

The various armed groups used their access to firearms to challenge the states security forces, which had resulted to deaths and injuries.

According to preliminary findings from the National Small Arms and Light Weapons Survey (NSALWS), locally manufactured arms, which are normally fabricated in small-scale factories, without legal permits, contribute to a large percentage of arms in circulation in Northern Nigeria, especially in North-Central.
There are also many different points of entry for internationally sourced weapons. Nigerias porous borders facilitate the sourcing of weapons from countries bordering Northern Nigeria such as Chad and Niger that are also tackling insurgencies as well as challenges of documenting the flow of small arms.
According to the report, ammunitions from at least 21 different nations have been used in the herders versus farmers conflicts in North-Central.

Some of these nations include Israel, Poland, Brazil, Iran, USA, Czech Republic, Algeria and Egypt.
The Small Arms Survey, a publication of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland, estimated small arms in the hands of civilian non-state actors nationwide at 6,145,000.
Another report by SMB Intelligence and Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), revealed that the armed forces and law enforcement agencies collectively account for 586,600 firearms, representing about 8.71 per cent of the total small arms and firearms in circulation.
Former Head of State, Abdusalami Abubakar, at a recent meeting of the National Peace Committee (NPC), expressed concern over the proliferation of all calibre of weapons in the country, which he estimated at six million.
Abubakar, who is also the Chairman of NPC, at a dialogue session of the committee with stakeholders held in Abuja, decried the proliferation of weapons.
Abubakar said that the proliferation of weapons has heightened insecurity in the country and led to over 80,000 deaths and close to three million internally displaced persons, across the country.
The Minister of Defence, retired Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi, while receiving the report of the committee set up to facilitate the reform of the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces, acknowledged that arms proliferation was a major factor threatening the nations peace and security.
Magashi said that since the fall of Libya coupled with security challenges in some of the neighbouring countries, they had been massive inflow of arms and ammunitions all over West African, adding that measures were in place to stem the tide.
He assured that the government was committed to ensuring that its laws are obeyed and illegal possession of arms and light weapons checked.
A renowned security expert, Dr Ona Ekhomu, who spoke on arms proliferation, called on the nations intelligence agencies to redouble effort in tracking the movement of small arms and light weapons into the country.
Ekhomu said that investigation by the intelligence agencies was necessary, adding that weapons did not just come one by one, but through cartels that stockpile them.
He said that the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and Department of State Service (DSS) had important roles to play in this regard, adding that DIA works from outside the country where some of the weapons come from.
According to him, there is intelligence in exporting countries about the weapons that are leaving as well as the cartel map, through which some of the weapons being imported could be interdicted.
On legislation, Ekhomu said that Nigeria has legislations on the control of small arms and light weapons, adding that enforcement has been the problem.
He said that the best approach to addressing the problem was to block the flow through the nations borders.

Ekhomu said that it would be more useful to stop the illegal inflow of weapons into the country before thinking on how to retrieve weapons held by criminals.
While the security agencies, especially the armed forces are grappling with this challenge, policy makers are finding ways to upscale their search for solution through Whole-of-Government and All-of-Citizens approach.
In this regard, President Muhammadu Buhari, on May 3, approved the establishment of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) to be domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

Retired Maj.-Gen. Abba Dikko was appointed the pioneer coordinator.
ONSA disclosed that NCCSALW replaced the defunct Presidential Committee on SALW.

NCCSALW is to serve as institutional mechanism for policy guidance, research and monitoring of all aspects of SALW in Nigeria.

The establishment of NCCSALW was part of ongoing restructuring of Nigerias security architecture to address emerging threats and strengthen regional mechanism for the control, prevention and regulation of SALW.
According to ONSA, the impact of the proliferation of SALW across national borders in Africa and the Sahel region has resulted in terrorism, human trafficking, organised crime, and insurrections in West Africa.
According to the ONSA, the new centre is fulfilment of the requirements of the ECOWAS Moratorium on Import, Export, and Manufacture of Light Weapons as well as the UN Plan of Action to prevent, combat, and eradicate illicit trade in SALW.
The NCCSALW will serve as the National Focal Point on SALW in Nigeria and lead a multi-stakeholder process, involving government Ministries, Departments, Agencies and the civil societies in implementing all national, UN and ECOWAS Plans of Action on the control of SALW.
The Centre will maintain international cooperation and also operate zonal offices in the six geopolitical zones to ensure quick response and effective mobilisation of resources, ONSA stated.

Stakeholders are optimistic that with the establishment of NCCSALW the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria will be greatly reduced, (NANFeatures)

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Source: NAN News

By Adenike Ayodele/Vivian Ibobo

Pastor Olayide Babatunde of the Glorious and Divine Calling Ministry in Ayobo, Lagos, has called on parents to regulate internet use by their children as a strategy to curb sexual assault.

Babatunde gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.

According to Babatunde, use of the internet had contributed much to rape and defilement.

Internet has done more bad than good and has corrupted the minds of our little ones.

What do you want to say about a six-year-old girl operating her mothers phone and dancing stark naked while videoing herself with the phone?

Imagine children between ages five and 12 years singing and listening to worldly music while viewing it on their parents phones, the cleric said.

She added that some children watched porns and other illicit images on the internet.

A five-year-old boy who sees a man lying on a woman in a movie will one day try it on an opposite sex either in school or at home.

We need a serious re-orientation in the country in order to bring back the sanity of our offsprings.

Gone are those days when children didnt have access to iPad, android tablets and other smart phones, she told NAN.

Babatunde also decried fake new spread on social media platforms.

There is no way internet wont be shut down sooner or later in the country with the high level of fake news parading the cyberspace.

Some fake news are being spread by teenagers that are exposed to internet.

For instance, incidents that happened in other countries are falsely spread by teenagers stating that such happened in Nigeria without taking into cognizance consequences of spreading such fake news.

The pastor appealed to parents to be watchful of what their children were being exposed to on the internet.

Parents should stop giving phones to their little children all in the name of pampering.

According to the pastor, internet is a powerful weapon which must be kept away from children. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Ifeanyi Olannye

Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta on Tuesday dissolved the State Executive Council, sacked the Secretary to the State Government, his Chief of Staff, Special Advisers and Chief Strategist.

The immediate past Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, announced this while briefing newsmen on some of the decisions reached by the executive council in Asaba, before the cabinet dissolution.

According to Aniagwu, the commissioners have been directed to hand over to the Permanent Secretaries in the respective ministries.

He said: All special advisers including the chief strategist, the SSG and the political adviser are to hand over to the next person in the line.

The governor, before announcing the dissolution of the council, thanked everybody including those who have been there for the past six years and those who joined two years ago for their contributions.

He noted that the dissolution would also create opportunity for other persons to become members of the cabinet to make their contributions to the development of the state.

Aniagwu added that the governor was aware of the peoples demand for democratic dividends.

The former commissioner said that before the dissolution of the executive council, a number of projects were approved.

He said that the council had dismissed one Mr Bernard Onanomovo, a staff of the state Ministry of Finance, for fraudulently including some names into the payroll of government.

Aniagwu said the council also approved a power purchase agreement with Banktuary Power Solution Nigeria Limited for the provision of electricity to government institutions in Asaba.

The company which came on stream two months ago has a generating capacity of over five Kilowatts of electricity.

The council approved that the total five Kilowatts of electricity that would be generated will not be consumed by government alone.

The excess will be shared to persons that can pay for it or sold to the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), he stated.

The former commissioner said that the council also approve N2.8 billion for the upgrade of the three newly established universities in the state.

Government also approved the state participation in the CBN oil palm development programme which will enable it to access over N7 billion loan to be made available to farmers in the state as soft loans, Aniagwu added.

He said that the council also approved the constructions of a road in Osubi, Okpe Local Government Area of the state, as well as three new secondary schools and a primary school in parts of the state.

On the retuned of the state fund looted by former Gov. James Ibori to Delta, he said that the state government was on touch with the FederalGovernment, adding I believe it would do the needful as a father. (NAN).

Source: NAN News

By Martha Agas

The Northern Governors Forum, has called for calm and dialogue between Kaduna State Government and organised labour, to resolve the ongoing warning strike by workers in the state.

The Chairman of the forum and Governor of Plateau, Mr Simon Lalong, made the call in a statement by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Dr. Makut Macham, on Tuesday in Jos.

He said the forum was concerned of the impact of the strike on the state and its residents following the lockdown of economic activities in the state.

The chairman noted that dialogue and negotiations were effective tools of addressing dispute in labour relations.

He called for restraint and de-escalation of the situation to enable amicable resolutions.

He pointed out that peaceful resolution was only possible when both parties operate within the law in ventilating their grievances.

The chairman explained that inciting comments and some actions would further aggravate the situation and increase tension.

Lalong urged the labour leaders to guard against the hijack of its protests by hoodlums, who may want to take advantage of the situation to cause destruction of lives and property.

He also tasked security agencies to ensure the enforcement of law and order to protect the people and their properties.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the Nigeria Labor Congress, on Monday declared five days warning strike following the sack of workers in the state, allegedly without following due process.

NLC has shut down power supply, rail and air operations as well as other commercial activities in the state.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Joan Nwagwu

The Federal Government has waded into ongoing strike and picketing in Kaduna State by the organised labour.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige said this in a statement signed by Mr Charles Akpan, Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations in the ministry, on Tuesday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress(TUC) had embarked on a five-day warning strike that commenced on Monday over sack of 4000 workers by the Kaduna state government.

Ngige appealed to the Kaduna state Governor, Malam Nasir El Rufai, President of the NLC, Mr Ayuba Wabba and the President of the TUC, Mr Quadiri Olaleye to immediately cease fire.

We are not unaware of what is going on in Kaduna state . It is a labour issue which has snowballed into a national strike and picketing by the two labour centres and affiliate unions.

We hope and also urge the Kaduna state governor not to escalate matters to such a level where it becomes uncontrollable.

We also appeal to leaders of the labour centres to step down action to make way for discussion .

My ministry is wading into the matter and therefore calls on the warring parties to give peace a chance, he said.

The minister also appealed to all workers on essential duties, including doctors and nurses not to join the strike.

He added that, importantly, I appeal to workers in critical sectors not to tamper with electrical or water installations so as not to bring more sufferings to the people of Kaduna state and the nation at large.

This is because we have it on good authority, following complaints by the Minster of Power that workers have threatened to trigger a nationwide blackout by interfering or switching off the national grid, Ngige said.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Chijioke Okoronkwo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says there is need for synergy among stakeholders in order to promote road safety in the country.

Osinbajo made the call on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while receiving on courtesy visit a team led by Sen. Adeleke Mamora, Minister of State for Health, in commemoration of the Global Road Safety Week.

The slogan chosen for 2021 UN Global Traffic Safety Week is Street for Life, to call for 30 km/h (20 mph) speed limits to be the norm for cities, towns and villages worldwide.

Osinbajo, who is Chairman of the National Road Safety Advisory Council, congratulated all of the agencies, ministries of health and transport, and the lead agency on road safety administration and safety management.

We must commend the UN, especially for the resolution, which has brought all of these about.

I think that making road safety a public health issue is one of the very creative ways of ensuring that we all able to synergise as the Ministry of Health is properly brought into the picture properly; which explains why the minister is a key part of the activities of this week and of course the second decade of action.

I think that those synergies are important; the synergies between the ministries and the synergies between the Federal Government, the states and the Local Government Councils.

Many of our streets belong to states and local governments; so, there is absolutely no way we can talk about road safety in any sensible way without bringing in the states and local governments; I think those synergies are important.

And I am sure also that you are walking with the ministries of health and transport in the states of the federation.

According to him, what the federal government is trying to do is first to encourage states to do not just their roads, but federal roads, where they can.

He said that federal roads were practically in all the states.

With this administration, the president was able to open up the states for states to do federal roads and be compensated for where they have sought appropriate permissions in order to do those roads, he said.

Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, Corp Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corp, who is a part of the team, later told State House correspondents that the initiative was geared at promoting reasonable speed limit in the urban areas.

Displaying a card with the inscription 30km/H, Oyeyemi said that the Global Road Safety Week was being celebrated globally.

Speed is the major challenge in the highways; 50 per cent of the fatalities is as a result of speed violations and the global bodys focus is to promote the need for people to be more safety conscious in reducing the speed.

I have seen that a lot of young ones are been killed in urban areas; hence the need to compel member bodies to make sure that the maximum speed limit in urban areas is 30 km per hour.

And we are happy for the vice president for spear-heading this as the chairman of the National Road Safety Advisory Council; so the same thing is going on in other parts of the country.

It is promoting the need in urban areas to cut down the speed maximum of 30 km per hour and we believe we will be able to achieve this with the cooperation of all the road users, he said.

Oyeyemi added that the corps would work with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to ensure that appropriate road signs were installed in the urban areas as well as stop signs at the junctions.

On his part, Mamora said there was need to eliminate the burden of accidents; hence the focus on prevention which, in itself, was part of managing the health of human beings as well.

Speaking, Dr Sydney Ibeanusi, the Country Director and Focal Person for the United Nations Decade of Action on Road Safety and Injury Prevention for Nigeria, said the benefits of the initiatives would be immense.

The short time benefit of this will be to save lives; saving the number of people who are killed or injured on the roads.

In the long term, the huge economic impact, we lose between three to five per cent of our Gross Domestic Product annually from road crashes; that translates to about N6 trillion to N9 trillion every year; so the long time impact is huge.

Most developed countries have realised that and took up road safety as a major economic investment and are reaping the benefits, he said.

He said that the target was to reduce deaths and disability by 50 per cent by the year 2030. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Chijioke Okoronkwo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says Sub-Saharan African will require annual investment of 40 billion dollars to implement a robust energy transition plan.

Osinbajos spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja said that the vice president said this in his keynote speech at the virtual 7th Annual New York-based Columbia University Global Energy Summit.

The summit was organised by the Columbia Centre on Global Energy Policy.

This years edition focused on shaping current energy system, what is ahead for energy policy, energy markets, geopolitics, technology and efforts to reduce emissions.

Osinbajo said that while investments in fossils were being sustained in wealthier countries, banning gas investments in developing nations raised questions around equity, justice and inclusion.

He said that the questions were pertinent as the global community approached the Net-zero emission target of 2050.

Therefore, a just, equitable, and inclusive global energy transition especially for developing economies is an imperative.

The global energy transition must be inclusive, equitable and just, taking into account the different realities of various economies and accommodating various pathways to net-zero by 2050.

Nigeria and countries across Africa are committed to a net-zero future, especially given their vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change.

All have expressed commitment to their national development contributions under the Paris Agreement, however greater support in developing and implementing robust energy transition plans is needed.

Clearly the continent will require an unprecedented scale of investments.

An energy mix compatible with a 1.5C pathway would require 40 billion dollars to flow into Sub-Saharan Africa annually; a fourfold increase compared to the billion invested in 2018.

The vice president said that a just energy transition for developing economies was central to the right to sustainable development and poverty eradication as enshrined in relevant global treaties including the Paris Agreement.

He regretted that wealthier nations and institutions were banning all public investments in fossil, including natural gas.

Examples include the EU, UK and Denmark to name a few, as well as specific institutions such as the Swedfund from Sweden, CDC from the UK, the European Investment Bank, and the Investment Fund for Developing Countries from Denmark.

Inclusive and equitable transition will also take into account the principles of common but differentiated responsibility and leaving no one behind that are enshrined into global treaties around sustainable development and climate action.

It means building sustainability into our economic planning.

So, we have developed an Economic Sustainability Plan, which includes our flagship Solar Power Naija programme aiming to electrify five million households and 25 million people by 2023 leveraging solar mini-grids and stand-alone systems.

We believe in the potential of off-grid renewables to close the energy deficit in Nigeria and across Africa, he said.

He said pathways to reaching net-zero by 2050 had to include, first, ending energy poverty by 2030.

Osinbajo warned that if energy access issues were left unaddressed, there would continue to be growing energy demand being addressed with high polluting and deforesting fuels such as diesel, kerosene, and firewood.

On her part,MrsDamilola Ogunbiyi,the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy, said the funding of projects that would guarantee cleaner energy sources was critical to the attainment of net-zero by 2050.

Earlier in his opening remarks,Prof. Jason Bordoff,the Founding Director of the Centre on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, said the annual gathering of energy experts was part of the contributions by the Centre in addressing pressing energy issues.

Heexpressed delight in having the vice president share perspectives at the 2021 summit.

Other participants at the summit included American energy expert and Vice Chairman of IHS Markit, Daniel Yergin, who moderated a fireside chat with Osinbajo after his keynote address.

Ms Caitlin Norfleet, the Event Manager of the Centre on Global Energy Policy, among others also featured. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Edith Ike-Eboh

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Chief Timipre Sylva says that efforts to ensure passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) before the National Assembly are still on course.

Sylva made this known at an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.

I want to tell you that PIB is fully on course and we are very happy because we have focused on that for a long time and we had many meetings with the National assembly and stakeholders.

Today, I believe that we are all basically satisfied with where we are.

The National Assembly has given a timeline, they actually gave April but a few things, but give or take, I still believe that the passage of the PIB will not go beyond June.

We are hopeful that between now and June, they will pass the PIB, I dont think we are faraway with the passage of the PIB, he said.

Commenting on subsidy, he said that the common man is worse hit with subsidy, but usually the one that fights government anytime it is said it would be removed.

He said subsidy had created opportunity for people to transport products to nearby countries to make more profit as the price is high in those places.

People are ready to take all kinds of risk to transfer products to places like Benin Republic. So when the prices are at par, it might help to reduce some of these risks, he said.

He noted that until Nigeria bridges the price differentials in the pump price of petrol, people would continue to take all risks to smuggle the product.

The price differential is a major incentive for smuggling that is why until we are able to bridge that gap, people will continue to do that.

Because, it is very difficult for government to police all the border of Nigeria, he said

He said government had exhibited political will and commitment to announce deregulation for the downstream sector March 2020.

He urged Nigerians to support governments efforts to ensure full deregulation of the sector for economic growth and development.

The truth is that the common man is not benefiting from the subsidy, he said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Mexican President Andres Obrador has apologised to China on behalf of his country for the massacre of more than 300 Chinese by rebels in the northern city of Torreon.

The massacre which happened 110 years ago during the Revolutionary War claimed over 300 Chinese lives between May 13, and 15, 1911.

A total of 303 Chinese people were killed in Torreon.

Mexico must not only recognise its responsibility and guilt, but also vow to never to allow racism, discrimination and xenophobia again, Lopez Obrador said at a joint ceremony with the Chinese ambassador to Mexico, Zhu Qingqiao, in Torreon.

Thousands of these Chinese went to Mexico to work from the late 19th century. Many worked on the construction of the railway network, while others worked on farms, in mines, as traders or in laundries.

They encountered hatred, violence and discrimination, which led many to leave Mexico again in the decades that followed.

According to figures from the Mexican Government, the Chinese population shrank from 15,960 to just 4,800 between 1930 and 1940.

Lopez Obrador noted that Mexico had been largely silent about the massacre in Torreon for the past 110 years. (dpa/NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Muhammad Lawal

Gov. Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State on Monday appealed to the private sector to invest more in fish production to meet the nations demand.

The governor made the plea during a visit to Kitari Fish Farm in Bunza Local Government Area of the state.

He said the visit was part of the sustained efforts by the state to encourage private sector participation in agriculture and also to ensure the promotion of other value chain.

Bagudu said: The visit to the farm located at Sabon Gari Jika in Bunza Local Government is aimed at encouraging fish production in large and small scales in the state by private individuals.

I am delighted with the big fish ponds I saw at the farm, which is at its first phase of development, it is equally important to note that I was elated when I went round.

The Proprietor of the farm, Alhaji Abbas Umar-Bunza, said various species of fish were being bred inside the ponds.

He expressed satisfaction with the level of patronage received both from within and outside the state since he started production.

Umar-Bunza said he had trained many youths on fisheries who subsequently became employers of labour by setting up their fish farms.

One of the overseers of the farm, Abubakar Ladan, said the farm started with five fish ponds, while additional five were now under construction.

Work started here a year ago with five fish ponds, presently, additional five more ponds are being constructed to make it ten, he said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News