Nanaghan Adesola Peter, PhD
Nigerian College of Accountancy, Kwall, Jos, Plateau State.
E-Mail: nanaghanpeter@gmail.com,Phone:
Bozimoh Andrew Torulolo, PhD
Institute of Governance and Development Studies,
Nasarawa State University Keffi
,E-Mail: Bozyandy@yahoo.com
&
Gbadamosi Bolanle Iyabode, PhD
Institute of Governance and Development Studies,
Nasarawa State University Keffi,
E-Mail: rashbtravels@gmail.com
Abstract
One of the actual obstacles to sustenance of stable peace and security in Nigeria is the existence and alarming rate in migration of Small Arms and Light Weapons. The Small Arms and Light Weapons stand a principal source of eradication to human lives and properties and worsen inter-communal clashes, resulting to serious violence. The study examined the Strategic Analysis of Small Arms and Light Weapons Migration in Conflict-Induced Displacement and Security in Nigeria. The objective of this study is to know how Small Arms and Light Weapons affect conflict pattern and migration and also to assess and understand how Small Arms and Light Weapons worsen the problem of internal displacement in different parts of Nigeria. It also assessed the concerted efforts of the Nigerian government in combating the menace with a plan to proffer solutions on how to resolve the disheartening phenomenon. The finding of the study is that the availability of Small Arms and Light Weapons has escalated conflicts and aided the activities of criminal elements across Nigeria. The study adopted Everett Lee’s Theory of Migrations and Failed State Theory. The study recommended that there is need for the Federal, State and Local Government Areas in Nigeria to collaborate in solving the problem in addition to the imperative role of security agencies for sustenance of the nation’s peace and security. The method is secondary with the use written documents such textbooks, journals, magazines, internet document for adequate analysis of the subject matter.
Keywords: Small Arms and Light Weapons, Migration, Conflict-Induced Displacement and Security
Introduction
Small Arms and Light Weapons proliferation is acclaimed to be the major security challenge to people, societies and states globally, fueling insurgency, human trafficking and drugs, terrorism, organized crimes, internal insurrections and civil wars, posing obstacles to sustenance of stable peace and security. Many a times, little internal insurrection tends to escalate into larger civil wars and could destabilize a region (Kevin, 2007). This trend especially in Nigeria is attributed to the weakness and fragile nature of the state and her attendant failure to deliver good governance. Small arms and light weapons are often employed to forcefully displace civilians, prevent development activities, humanitarian assistance, peace-building and peace-keeping endeavours in all sense. At the end of conflicts, small arms and light weapons usually remain in the society, which may cause more violence since crisis can resume or conflicts erupt in neighbouring regions. Also in non-conflict environments, small arms may be used in criminal violence or may be used in suicides, accidents, homicides and others while they are sometimes the fundamental tools used by terrorists for societal annihilation (Holmes, 2014).
Circumstances, under which individuals decide whether or not to abandon their homes in the face of conflict. Most existing research on forced migration uses aggregate-level data to test individual-level behavior, arguing that people have a choice either to leave or stay even under highly adverse circumstances (Davenport, Moore, and Poe 2003; Edwards 2009; Melander and Öberg 2006, 2007; Moore and Shellman 2004, 2006, 2007). This “choice-centered” view makes a significant contribution in laying a theoretical foundation for analyzing forced migration. However, little is known at the individual level about why some people choose to stay while others choose to leave. One-time Defense Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in person of Lt. General T.Y Danjuma quoted in Falola and Okpeh Jnr (2008) when he argued that the ready availability of small and light weapons has escalated conflicts and aided the activities of criminal elements across the globe. Similarly, former Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan informed that the death toll from small and light arms dwarf other weapon systems and now exceeds the toll of the atomic bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, (Akinwunmi, 2008). It is not the sole objective of this study to focus on the death toll resulting from the uses and abuses of these weapons, but to show how these weapons have escalated conflicts in Nigeria and how this tend constitute a part of the challenges of the Disarmament Demobilization Re-integration (DDR) process and security sector reform. You will also be