AS stated last week, today we shall continue with the paper I delivered at the 2019 Professional Managers’ Forum/Award Night of the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered), Port-Harcourt Chapter on Friday 22nd November 2019 at Atrium Event Centre, Port-Harcourt, Rivers State on Small Arms and Light Weapons Proliferation and Development Issues in the Niger-Delta: The Managers’ Perspective.
3. SMALL ARMS AND LIGHT WEAPONS PROLIFERATION – DEEP THOUGHTS
Proliferation of small arms and light weapons is always a common phenomenon that a country has to deal with after war; it is usually a post-conflict security issue. The case of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 is still fresh in our minds. It was reported during the First International Global Information Infrastructure Symposium, held at Marrakech, Morocco, from 2-6 July, 2007, that the military lost 7-8 million (almost all) firearms that are now used by criminals in promoting crimes like abduction, murder and violence.
Also, the case of the civil war in Nepal is pertinent. Though, one may not be able to actually say for certain the extent of the proliferation of illegal small arms and light weapons in that small South East Asian country, however, considering the fact that more than nine dozens domestic arms manufacturing units operated in the Indo-Nepalese border during the time of armed conflict and with more than 1800 km of open border between India and Nepal, one can only imagine how many small arms and light weapons entered the wrong hands from that war.
To worsen the issue, only very few of the arms were collected from the Maoists and their Unified Communist Party of Nepal (UCPN). (Soetan, 2017).
There is the case of Libya. After the fall of their almost everlasting former leader, Colonel Muammar Mohammed Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi on 20th October, 2011 there was a proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country and in the surrounding countries.
Let us now consider the example of Nigeria. Why do we have so much small arms and light weapons almost everywhere? Why is the arms trade one of the most lucrative businesses to venture into? “There is no gainsaying the fact that there are so many ungoverned and ungovernable areas in Nigeria with their warlords. When the political class begins to negotiate with bandits and kidnappers, banditry and kidnapping will be transformed into a quasi – positive, neo political, strong and lucrative business enterprise with the wherewithal, effrontery and capacity to confront state power and security architecture”.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Niger-Delta and Nigeria have had their own share of war and politico-ethno- religious crises. The list is almost endless:
• the Biafran war fought almost fifty year ago still has its ghosts with us and the agitations are yet to leave public discourse or the hearts of some in the South East;
• the Maitatsine religious riots in Kano and Bauchi;
• religious and election riots in Kaduna, Ibadan;
• ethnic conflicts in Jos,
• Yoruba- Hausa/Fulani clashes,
• Ife-Modakeke crisis,
• the crises between Aguleri-Umuleri, Tiv- Junkun, Ijaw-Ilaje, Ijaw-Itsekiri, Urhobo-Itsekiri and Ijaw-Urhobo;
• the Boko Haram insurgency that has refused to die,
• the attack by some alleged Fulani bandits in certain parts of the country, etc.
In the Niger-Delta region, most of the crisis emanated from the agitation for resource control and has led to palpable fear in the hearts of many. Kidnapping is the latest thriving business; bandits even kidnap High Court and Appeal Court Judges, some kidnap for yam, red oil and other victuals. Traveling from one place to another is a nightmare, night life has almost ceased. No matter how you want to look at the environment, you will find that people are actually frustrated and are asking in different ways, why do we have so much crime, small arms and light weapons in the Niger Delta and Nigeria at large? Are we currently at war? The answers, my esteemed managers, are blowing in the wind but consider the following pseudo- war phenomena in the Nigeria of 2019:
1. There is hunger in the land. A thin line exists between a hungry man and an angry or mad man; when the thin line is crossed, the hungry man can become angry or mad and source for and use a weapon.
2. Politics in Nigeria is not a game but a form of war; political opponents turn to political gladiators and equip their electoral supporters with small arms and light weapons not manifestoes. This has contributed to the proliferation of small arms, criminalisation of politics, politicisation of crimes and the militarisation of youths.
3. Unemployment is a sort of war in the country.An indication of the seriousness of our unemployment war was a 2017 Immigration employment exercise: 1.2 million applicants jostled for 1,112 positions. The devil finds work (and a weapon?) for the idle hand!
4. The constitution of Nigeria is a form of war as it was not based on the consensus of the people defining how they intend to live together; it was imposed as a child of necessity to provide a policy document for civilian governments to operate. We the people of Nigeria never sat or agreed to the current constitution in use. Did we?
5. Corruption is a form of war ravaging the country. Corruption breeds violence. Reference Gen 6:11:
“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence”. Corruption and violence are Siamese twins, anywhere you see corruption, check around, and you must see violence.
6. Bureaucracy is a form of war in Nigeria as you rarely get something done without passing through the tortuous route called ‘red tape’ with its inefficiency, waste and mediocrity.
7. The porous border is fueling ‘war’ in Nigeria. Anything and everything can always find their way into the country despite government efforts at tightening the routes/borders to the country. We hope that the current ‘closure’ of most of our land borders will have a positive security impact on us all.
8. Poverty is another ‘war’ in Nigeria. Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world; it has displaced India as the country with the poorest persons. Nearly 47% of the population; about 93.8 million, were on less than $1.90 a day as at June this year. The number must have since increased. Our gross poverty has made nonsense of the UNDP Sustainable Development Goal of ending poverty by 2030, and fuelled security issues.
9. Proliferation of small arms has escalated in the country because there exists perceived injustice and delayed justice and “when judgment is not fully executed, the hearts of men are set to do evil” (Eccl 8:11).
10. The country is experiencing a high influx of small arms and light weapons because, we live in a country where, to a large extent, ‘might is right’. The arms are required to strengthen the ‘might’ of some people and convert it to ‘right’.
To be continued next week.
Sunday Ade Bello is a multi-talented and an analytically inspired management trainer, writer and examiner. He is the CEO of WorkLife Training Professionals, Lagos.
