By Khalid Idris Doya The Federal Government has enlisted members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) across the Northeast...
By Khalid Idris Doya
The Federal Government has enlisted members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) across the Northeast to support ongoing efforts to curb the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in the region.
The Northeast Zonal Director of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), under the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Maj.-Gen. Abubakar Adamu (Rtd), made the call during sensitisation exercises held at the NYSC orientation camps in Potiskum, Yobe State, and Maiduguri, Borno State.
Represented by the Centre’s Assistant Director of Strategic Communication and Information, Mr. Aminu Saleh Mohammed, Adamu said the involvement of young people—particularly corps members—would significantly bolster national efforts to address insecurity linked to the illegal circulation of arms.
He explained that the NCCSALW, established in 2021 under the ONSA, serves as Nigeria’s institutional framework for regulating, monitoring, and reducing the flow of illicit small arms and light weapons.
Addressing corps members in Yobe, the retired general warned that arms proliferation remains a major driver of banditry, kidnapping, cultism, political thuggery, insurgency, and other violent crimes across the country.
“When you get to your places of primary assignment, be good ambassadors of your families, NYSC, and your states. Report anyone found possessing or producing illicit small arms and light weapons,” he urged.
Adamu cautioned that the unchecked circulation of SALW undermines development, fuels black-market arms trade, heightens cross-border insecurity, and exposes young people to radicalisation and armed conflict.
He also appealed to parents and guardians to strengthen moral upbringing, instill values of tolerance and peaceful coexistence, and watch for behavioural changes that may indicate susceptibility to negative influences.
At the Maiduguri camp, he encouraged Islamic and Christian clerics to educate their congregations on the dangers of arms proliferation and support peacebuilding and reintegration programmes for extremists and victims.
Adamu further urged NYSC coordinators across the Northeast to collaborate with the Centre in establishing Small Arms and Light Weapons Community Development Service (CDS) groups—similar to the one already operating in Borno State.
In their responses, the NYSC Coordinators for Yobe and Borno States, Mr. Edison Ohuoha and Mallam Nasir Bello, commended the initiative and pledged full cooperation. They assured that steps would be taken to establish the CDS groups and expand awareness campaigns across strategic locations in the region.
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