| Summary: | The protracted proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) from around the
globe to Africa, specifically in Northern Nigeria, had led to a plethora of social crises that
have culminated to the insecurity across the region for more than a decade. Armed conflicts
that resulted from the effects of the spread of SALW across the three geopolitical zones in the
North had subsequently led to the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast, farmers-herders
conflict in the North central, armed banditry in the Northwest, and ethnoreligious conflicts
and mass kidnappings in the region. The objective of this study is a critical and thorough
investigation of the SALW in exacerbating armed conflicts, in general, in the Northern
part of Nigeria. The main problems identified in this study are the armed conflicts that
have threatened to entirely destabilize the region, and the increased distribution of SALW
across the region despite the global efforts to contain their spread for security reasons.
This study used a qualitative method of data collection and analysis. Both primary and
secondary sources were employed in this study. The primary sources were the interviews
conducted with selected informants in the relevant area of study. The secondary sources
were the use of available literature on the subject matter. Discussions were carried out by
using thematic analytical interpretations. The research discovered that the rampant armed
conflicts in Northern Nigeria is the reminiscent of the spread of SALW in the region, which
subsequently led to the present critical security situation. Furthermore, weak policies and political institutions had contributed to the spread of SALW, indicating a need for a strong
policy approach. This study recommends, among other numerous suggestions, that efforts
should be intensified in intelligence gathering to detect the networking of the racketeers
in the armed business and contain them appropriately, as well as total blockage of the
weapons’ distribution routes.
|
|---|