Should Nigerians Be Allowed to Bear Arms?

 If a moth could be a cankerworm in the Nigerian Agricultural Production, how much more threat would over a thousand moths pose to the National food security.

If the access to over 60,000 firearms could leave Nigerians in such a deplorable state, how much more threat would giving free rein to over 2,000, 000 firearms pose to the Nigerians’ security.

It is no news that today, insecurity remains a recurring issue that poses a great threat to the corporate existence and well-being of Nigerians. It has been one of the greatest challenges bedeviling every part of the country. Based on reports, the south-west of Nigeria is threatened by a surge in armed robbery, extrajudicial killings, domestic crime, ‘herders on farmers’ violence, kidnapping, and banditry. Commercial crime, secessionist agitation, ritual killings, banditry, and attacks by unknown gunmen are the prevalent issues ravaging the south-east of the country. Meanwhile, the south-south is plagued by kidnapping, militancy and environmental agitation.

On the other hand, the north-east has been experiencing a humanitarian crisis caused by the Boko Haram insurgency and the Islamic States in West Africa Province (ISWAP) for over a decade. The north-east has, however, been witnessing cases of illegal mining, banditry and ethno-religious killings.

Amidst these abating cases of insecurity in the country, a bill for Act to permit Nigerians, from the age of eighteen, to bear arms for self-defense may soon be passed by the House of Representatives, but the question of controversy amongst Nigerians is: Should all Nigerians be allowed to bear arms?

We speak of plant protection products to protect our plants from the destructive pests and weeds, shouldn’t we beware that the plant that needs protection itself does not suffer from the toxic effects of the protection products?

 It is time Nigerians stopped conceptualizing ‘self – defense’ as a ‘weed killing’ solution to the problem of insecurity in the country. We need to be cognizant of the fact that when talking about ‘self – defense’ through ownership of arms, ‘weed killing’ is not an appropriate phrase to qualify this, because the moment Nigerians gain free access to arms, then, we are not trying to wipe out only the weed here. As a matter of fact, we are exterminating the whole plants.

I strongly oppose this very proposition that all Nigerians should be allowed to bear arms. If Nigerian citizens should be entitled to the grant of a license under this very Act, do we think that is an attempt to tackle or extenuate the issue of insecurity in Nigeria, or to exacerbate the situation?

Recently, a lecturer at the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, Dr Mur’tala A. Rufa’I, has claimed that there are 120 gangs of bandits operating in six Northern States, and each group has in its possession more than 500 AK 47 rifles. 

However, according to the 1990 Firearms Act: Part 11, Section 4, “No person shall have in his possession or under his control any firearm…….except in accordance with a license granted in respect thereof by the Inspector-General of Police, which license shall be granted or refused in accordance with principles decided upon by the President”. This implies that, as of now, a license for the possession of firearms is not granted as of right, yet some citizens could gain access to over 60, 000 firearms, and use them to their advantage. 

So, if the current population of Nigeria based on the estimation by the United Nations on July 1, 2022 is 218,541,212 with 109,810,327 citizens over age 18, and all Nigerians above age 18 are granted the right to bear arms, there will be free rein to over 1 million firearms in the country. If all Nigerians are entitled to guns or other firearms, there’ll be availability, possession and access to no less than 2 million firearms in Nigeria.

If the access to over 60,000 firearms could leave Nigerians in such a deplorable state, how much more threat would giving free rein to over 2,000, 000 firearms pose to the Nigerians’ security?

Nigerians should not resort to taking ‘drastic steps’ as a view to curtailing or bringing an end to banditry. Would we dispute the fact that ‘citizens’ safety and security’ is one of the basic responsibilities of the government and, of course, its security agencies?

Citizens should take cognizance of the fact that the Nigerian security personnel would tackle the situation to the best of their ability. A good evidence of this is a report made by the ‘Premium Times’. The report has it that Mr Rauf Aregbesola, the interior minister once said, “The council, today, made a firm decision on what to do, and I can assure Nigerians that with the charge from the president and the Commander - In - Chief of the armed forces, there will be an improved response to all forms of criminality in any part of the country…” He further continued, as regards the Abuja –Kaduna train attack, “The police and other security agencies had been mobilized to intensify surveillance, patrol and pursuit of the criminals…so all agencies committed to providing security for Nigeria and the maintenance of law and order: they have been ordered to improve on their activities, intensify surveillance and minimize, if not totally eliminate, any threat to law and order in Nigeria”.

This implies that Nigerians should be assured that the government and its security agencies are trying their best possible to extenuate, if not totally exterminate, this unmitigated disaster. Allowing Nigerians to own arms will not, in anyway, tackle this issue but escalate it.

Inarguable is the fact that Nigerians are highly incapable of protecting themselves against these well-armed, highly experienced bandits. 

Need I remind all that these bandits have strong arms and weapons in their possession such as the AK 47, and of course, the only arms the government could possibly provide citizens are the pistols. Let us imagine a civilian, with no training or orientation, having just a pistol in his possession is about to be attacked by a highly trained terrorist with the AK 47 and some other arms in his possession. Who do you think has a higher probability of being harmed by the other? The civilian or the terrorist? Would we still deny the fact that we citizens are, as well, highly incapable of defending themselves, even with fire arms? Owning guns to ourselves would not be used to achieve the intended purpose in the long run, but to even contribute to the bane. It would never make Nigeria any safer! Why? Of course, there would be an outbreak of war…conflicts over religious sentiments, and issues/crises on ethnic diversity will aggravate. There would be incessant massacre in all parts of the country, and a decimation of a large number of innocent Nigerians will be the topic and headlines of the day. Liberalizing gun ownership might be an attempt to secure our lives and properties, but instead of being a means of protection, it would become an instrument of harm. Nigerians are going to use these arms to their advantage, and everyone would eventually become a ‘terrorist’. Then, who would we protect ourselves against? The ‘terrorists’ or one another? And we talk about the law…Of course, it would become a lawless state! The Nigerian system would eventually become politically anarchic, and insecurity would never cease to exist in our society. 

Let us take cursory look at the 1967 – 1970 Biafran (Civil) war and reminisce how disastrous and horrendous it was, even with no free rein to arms. If all Nigerians had been granted entitlement to ‘gun ownership’ beforehand, don’t you think we would have gone overboard? Do you think Nigeria will still even exist as a nation, one with its liberty?

‘Only God can protect us, we can’t even protect ants’. 

If just 500 bandits with 60,000 arms could stir up so much tension and commotion in the country, leaving her in such a deplorable state, we should ponder over, ruminate on and reflect upon how much more danger and disaster over 2 million Nigerians with over 2 million firearms would cause. 

On the contrary, the Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, in August 2020, pointed to the United State as an example of a State that permits its citizens to bear arms. He said: “…in America, people are licensed to carry sophisticated weapons but life is still going on”, further proposing that Nigerians should be entitled to the procurement of arms.

It is true that Nigeria will not be the first country to enact a bill for such Act. The United State of America (USA), of course, has the highest rate of gun ownership in the world. Report shows that the USA has a total number of 393.3M firearms in civilians possession as at 2022. It was reported that there are more guns than people in the States, however, it is undisputable that ‘gun violence’ has remained a rising issue ravaging the country for over a couple of years, and this could be traced to the availability of and access to a large number of guns in the States. It was reported that gun violence was the leading cause of death for children over 19 and younger as of 2020. Report also has it that in 2020, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 45,222 Americans died from gun-related injuries in the US, according to the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Further report shows that, on the Global Peace Index which ranks countries by safety, the United States places 122nd out of 163 countries.

If guns keep us safe, why isn’t America one of the safest countries in the world? Would we still give illogical opinions on resorting to ownership of arms as the only solution to our quandary?

 If the US, a highly developed country, could fail in maintaining a corrupt-free and secured nation through legalization of arms, isn’t it a foolhardy decision if Nigerians take to such an impetuous action?

In an attempt to defend ourselves, in our resort to attaining arms for self-defense, shouldn’t Nigerians be finding other reasonable means to abate the problem of insecurity, instead of resorting to means that will only escalate it? 

Allowing Nigerians to bear arms is equivalent to exterminating the existence of Nigeria as a nation. It is not a 'weed killing' solution but a 'plant destruction product'. It is a threat to the innocent lives of well-meaning Nigerians and the country at large.