July 26, (THEWILL) – The Senate has passed the long awaited Bill to establish the National Commission for the Coordination and Control of the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NATCOM), an offshoot of the National Taskforce, for the Control of Small Fire Arms and Light Weapons (NATFORCE), in a move to counter the rising insecurity in the country.
The passage of the National Commission Against the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2022, followed the consideration of a report by the Committee on National Security and Intelligence.
The bill is a consolidation of three bills – two private-member bills and one from the Executive arm of government against the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.
They are: The Nigerian National Commission against the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2020(SB. 283); The Nigerian National Commission against the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2020 (SB. 513); and The National Centre for the Coordination and Control of the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Establishment) Bill, 2021 (SB. 794).
Presenting the Bill on the floor, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Ibrahim Gobir (APC – Sokoto East), said the three bills seek to provide for the establishment of a government body that will be saddled with combating the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria.
Gobir said, the functions of the body shall be in line with Article 24 of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Convention on the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons which came into force in 2009.
Gobir noted that establishing a commission against the proliferation of weapons stemmed from the need to immediately address the nation’s present state of insecurity.
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