The Federal Government has enlisted members of the National Youth Service Corps in its efforts to combat the spread of illicit small arms and light weapons and address insecurity across Nigeria.
The initiative is being implemented through the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons in partnership with the NYSC.
The Northeast Zonal Director of the NCCSALW, retired Maj. Gen. Abubakar Adamu, disclosed the partnership on Friday while speaking at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Bauchi.
Represented by the Centre’s Assistant Director of Strategic Communication and Information, Aminu Saleh, Adamu said corps members could become important advocates for peaceful communities through their postings across the country.
He noted that the involvement of corps members in Borno and Yobe had already produced encouraging results, particularly through community sensitisation programmes carried out at their places of primary assignment.
According to him, the active participation of young people would strengthen efforts to reduce the circulation and use of illegal weapons.
The initiative is being implemented through the establishment of the NCCSALW Community Development Service, which provides a platform for corps members to educate communities on the dangers associated with illicit arms.
Adamu explained that the NCCSALW, established in 2021 under the Office of the National Security Adviser, serves as the institutional framework for regulating and controlling small arms and light weapons in Nigeria.
He warned that the proliferation of such weapons contributes to banditry, kidnapping, cultism, political violence, insurgency and other forms of criminality.
He also said illegal arms trafficking fuels black markets for weapons and ammunition, exposes young people to violence and worsens insecurity across Nigeria’s borders.
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The NCCSALW official called on parents and guardians to strengthen the upbringing of children by promoting tolerance, peaceful coexistence and non-violent approaches to conflict.
He also urged NYSC officials across the North-East to establish Community Development Service groups focused on combating illicit arms proliferation in their respective states, following the example of Borno.
Responding, the Bauchi State NYSC Coordinator, Umoren Kufre, welcomed the initiative and pledged the agency’s support for the proposed CDS group.
Kufre said the NYSC would work with the Centre to expand sensitisation activities and mobilise corps members to contribute to efforts aimed at reducing the circulation of illegal weapons in the region.
Some corps members who attended the programme also pledged to serve as ambassadors of the NCCSALW and participate in community-based campaigns against illicit arms and violence.