ABUJA, April 15 (NNN-NAN) — Nigeria is drawing up plans to establish a commission to control the proliferation of illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in the country, says Nigeria Dr Ezekiel Oyemomi, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence.

Unveiling the plan at an ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) stakeholders’ dialogue on SALWs here Tuesday, he said Nigeria was working on transforming the National Committee on the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Nigeria (NATCOM) into a commission as stipulated in the ECOWAS Convention.

“As stipulated in the ECOWAS Convention, member states are expected to establish a commission and Nigeria will endeavour to comply with it,” noted Oyemomi, who said the report of the technical panel on the transformation was being reviewed.

He decried the proliferation of SALWs in the ECOWAS sub-region, saying the menace was responsible for the incessant internal conflicts in member states. Nigeria, he added, would continue to collaborate with other stakeholders and ECOWAS to stop the menace.

NATCOM Chairman Air Commodore Danjuma Otaru said his committee was committed to the implementation of the ECOWAS and UN Conventions on the control of SALWs.

NATCOM was inaugurated in 2001 to combat the illicit import, export and transfer of SALWs as provided in the ECOWAS moratorium. — NNN-NAN

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