Existing law on firearms weak – Presidency

The Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PRESCOM), has described the existing law on firearms in the country as weak and inadequate to deal with weapon trafficking and related offences.

The Chairman of the committee, Amb. Emmanuel Imohe, made the remark on Wednesday when he declared open a two-day expert roundtable on the proposed amendment to the firearms Act.

Imohe said the Act, CAP F28 LFN 2004, was “crafted” in 1959 when Nigeria was under colonial rule.

He said that was the time the country had not begun to experience serious problems in connection with proliferation of illicit weapons.

“When a law is described as weak, it is either in terms of scope, that is, the issue covered by the said law or by the nature of penalties contained therein.

“PRESCOM considers the existing firearms Act to be deficient on these two counts.

“The law made in the colonial era did not anticipate some of the trends of offences that are now beginning to emerge under the rubric of proliferation,” he said.

According to him, the penalties contained in the existing Act are weak; consequently offenders continue to get away with light sentences.

Imohe said this made offenders to return to their nefarious business after serving such light sentences, adding that “in reality” the law was not strong enough to serve as deterrent.

He said that the measure taken to address illicit weapons and offences, including improved border security; aggressive awareness and deployment of technology were inadequate, and that the weak law must be redone.

The chairman called on the experts to add value to the proposed amendment through their inputs.