2023 General Elections-The Arms and Ammunition Question

Governments in Sub-Saharan Africa are yet to come out with convincing strategies on how to control international transfers of conventional arms. Indeed, all countries, Nigeria inclusive, in West Africa, participate in the conventional arms trade and are to be held responsible for the result of this trade, widespread death, injuries, and human rights abuses. Certain political office holders at all levels of government in Nigeria, have tacitly influenced arms transfers that have been used for several heinous and grievous crimes. Armed conflict, displacement of people, organized crime, and terrorism festered for so long because of the hidden agenda of Those-in-Authority. They have deliberately allowed the free flow of weapons of mass destruction to get out of control. This has in the process caused pain, suffering, and death in different parts of the country. At the center and several states of the country, Non-State actors having been empowered financially are having a field day. As the 2023 General Elections gradually set in, the government at all levels ought to tighten the noose on access to illegal arms and ammunition as a step towards ensuring peace, safety, security, and sustainable development.