There are 6 million illegal ammunitions circulating in Nigeria, a former head of State, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, has revealed.
The insecurity in the country has also claimed as many as 80,000 lives and nearly three million Nigerians displaced internally, Abubakar said.
“The proliferation of all calibres of weapons not only in our sub-region in general and in Nigeria in, particular is worrying. It is estimated that there are over 6 million of such weapons in circulation in the country.
This certainly exacerbated the insecurity that led to over 80,000 deaths and close to 3 million internally displaced persons,” he said at a meeting of the National Peace Committee in Abuja Wednesday.
The Committee is made up of former leaders, religious leaders, and traditional rulers.
Nigeria is currently witnessing its worst peace-time insecurity. Kidnappers, including those who disguise as herdsmen, have taken over the highways, farmlands, neighborhoods, and schools, kidnapping large numbers of people for ransom.
Abubakar added that Nigeria’s travails were not just insecurity in the narrow sense of the military definition, but extended to other areas.
The challenges include Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, increasing poverty, calls for regional independence, the threat of hunger as farmers have been forced to abandon their farms, and the general sense of despair in the land.
There are also agitations by regional groups, including those by the Indigenous People of Biafra, whose military wing, the Eastern Security Network, has been having running battles with security agencies.
Abubakar, an army general, hinted at the possible reasons why Nigeria has not made much progress in the battle against the bandits. According to him, the security forces have been overstretched, and are also underfunded.
“The security agencies can perform better with more sophisticated weapons, equipment, and more funding.” Abubakar 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 said.
