Otunba Tola Winjobi, Principal Coordinator, CAFSO-WRAG for Development, has advocated the need for the Federal Government to strengthen laws associated with gun ownership in Nigeria.
He explained that the development was necessary in order to nip in the bud the the multiplicity of small arms, light weapons and gun violence in the country.
He spoke at a one-day roundtable consultation on curbing gun violence and curtailing small arms and light weapons(SALW) in Ibadan, Oyo state,where he also suggested that applicants found to be emotional and psychologically unfit should be denied licence.
According to him, appropriate records on gun purchases including profiling, number of guns in the country, private and public purchases should be taken while government should monitor firearms owners and confiscate guns from those found to be abusing the opportunity.
He said:”There should not be sacred cows in sanctioning offenders regardless of ethnic group involved. Tacit authorization in carrying AK47 by a section of an ethnic group in our country threatening and killing armless farmers should be decried while such individuals caught should face the music.
“All of the time, age sometimes does not apply in the misuse of firearms as it has been found out that most of the incidents of misuse of firearms are traceable to young adult and over that age bracket. Some adults are not mentally fit to handle machetes let alone fire arms. As a result, the need to improve on the mental health of gun handlers including compulsory psychiatric test is necessary”.
He advised the government to allocate resources to accessible and affordable mental health services including counselling, therapy and crisis intervention for vulnerable population.
He also said that government should address the issue of socio-economic conditions of the country which are exacerbating poverty, joblessness, infrastructural deficit, insecurity, and sectarian conflicts facing Nigerians.
Police community relations,he said, should be established where not in existence while it should be supported with community surveillance where suspicious activities should be reported to the security operatives accordingly.
Apart from night watch initiatives,Winjobi advised community to organize neighbourhood watch in day time so as to check-mate pretentious individuals sauntering around with mischievous intentions.
He further advised that special attention should be paid to scavengers,especially those iron mongers locally called bola who hide under the guise of hunting for disused pieces of iron and metals but hide weapons in their trucks.
He added:”With the support of civil society and security experts, community members should undergo training around engaging youth in productive activities, community security, surveillance strategy, conflict resolution, self-defence tactics, use of dane guns and other defence implements.
“It is also necessary each community or landlord-resident association draw up a register of residents containing vital information that could be shared with the police when necessary.
“The federal government should exercise political will to support and implement the outcome of RevCon4 Seven Advocacy Points on the UN Programme of Action (UNPoA) on Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its aspects that was held from 18-28 June 2024.
” The seven key advocacy issues are: strengthening transfer controls; controlling SALW ammunition; collecting, destroying, and safely disposing of surplus SALW and ammunition; mainstreaming gender; engaging with youth; setting national and regional targets; and controlling the civilian possession of SALW”.