In order to ensure a well-equipped Army and Police, the Nigeria government increased significantly the Military and Police expenditures. The government also has increased funding. The Corporation is receiving assistance from South African and Chinese companies. The government aimed at making the country self-sufficient in weapons and ammunition production. Sub-Saharan African countries' military budget data are notoriously opaque, incomplete and deceptive Smaldone: This is not more likely to change any time soon. Since , there has been a global Military expenditure reporting mechanism, the "United Nations Instrument for Reporting Military Expenditures".
Regarding the Police, its primary duty is to reinforce law and maintain order. But the concern is its capacity to carry out its duties. The Nigeria government has taken steps to increase the resources available to the Police. The budget provides for USD 2. Nigeria government has increased the Military and the Police spending in an attempt to ensure the capacity of those Forces to protect its boundaries, and to combat the growing criminality.
So, in addition to legal transfers, illicit traffic and local production of small arms. While small arms and their components are produced in a number of African countries 8 , the scale of this production is small, both in comparison with the quantity of weapons produced in the rest of the World and with the number of small arms used in Africa.
A major conceptual problem in current intergovernmental debate on small arms remains the distinction between legal and illicit trade. The guidelines for international arms transfers agreed in by the UN General Assembly include the following definition of illicit arms trafficking:. There are a numerous security agencies that operate in Nigeria. Apart from the primary agencies authorized to carry arms such as the Armed Forces, intelligence agencies, the Police, there other agencies allowed to do so.
The number of official small arms is likely to increase. The most commonly used weapons in Africa's civil wars are the Kalashnikov assault rifles. One to three million small arms is in circulation in Nigeria Small Arms Survey: In addition to legal transfers of small arms, the country is provided an important surplus of this type of weapons from illicit external or internal transactions.
European's surplus weapons are sold at below cost in Africa.
Here, "arms brokers" 9 play an important role in the illicit arms trade, and their expertise is in high demand. In Sub-Saharan African countries The craft production also helps to increase quantitatively the small arms supplies in the country, and contributes to their proliferation. Craft weapons are widely in Nigeria. The reason is they are inexpensive and easy to acquire. They include revolvers and shotguns used for hunting, community policing and self-defense. The main purchasers are hunters, businessmen, politicians, elites and vigilante groups, and there are numerous craft production markets throughout the country such as Kaduna, Katsina, Awka and Calabar.
Craft production is legal only when the craftsman is licensed by the government, and thereby authorized to produce firearms. But many do so without any permission. The accumulation of such small arms may contribute to destabilizing internal situations leading either to the exacerbation of crime and urban violence, or to a blurring of the distinction between crime and warfare Small Arms and Light Weapons: Measuring the illegal trafficking of small arms is very difficult.
Reliable data is unavailable because of the nature of the nature of the transfers and the poor record keeping. There is no existing official. Only second-hands reports are supported by interviews individuals who had little evidence to do so. Ammunition is spent quickly during a conflict and needs to be resupplied constantly. In general, ascertaining the origins of ammunition used in Sub-Saharan African countries is not easy.
Very little, if any military ammunition is produced in West Africa, in East Africa however, researchers report finding Kenya-Uganda, and Sudanese-manufactured ammunition in the hands of non-State armed groups in several countries. Although we cannot quantify precisely the amount of ammunition manufactured in Africa and in Nigeria in particular that contributes to conflicts and armed violence, we do know that the vast majority of ammunition comes from outside Africa.
Put all together, the increase of military and security spending as well as the easy availability of arms tends to increase the incidence of armed violence and insecurity in Nigeria.
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The insecurity in Nigeria is characterized by both political instability over the years with frequent military coups and armed violence. Violence can be defined as the "intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that results in injury, death, psychological, maldevelopment or deprivation" World Health Organization: Thus we examine the actual carrying out of. Most of them had generated military dictatorship and the denial of democracy. Even though democracy is not something new to the country, military regimes had ruled Nigeria for most its post-colonial period.
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Violence was common during military rule, and the seeds of various forms of armed violence were planted during that period. The preliminary data gathered show the increase of. Generally, incidents of armed violence appeared more concentrated in Lagos State and in the Delta States of Rivers. These incidents were primarily criminal in nature, except in the Delta States where they were a mixture of criminal and oil- related violence. International reporting asserted that violent crime was the most common incident, followed by political and election and oil-related violence.
According to a national survey conducted by the CLEEN Foundation, assault and grievous harm and wounding are the most common violent incidents nationwide.
Small Arms Acquisition and Insecurity in ECOWAS Countries: Nigeria as A Case Study
Murder and manslaughter are far less common. The overall level of violence in Nigeria has increased over the past several years. This finding gives support to the popular belief that violence escalated since the return to democracy in the country in Also, kidnapping, a different type of violence has been going since the early s Chatham House: Hostages have been taken for two reasons: Although there are regional differences in the prevalence and use of small arms in Nigeria, there is far less variance in the types of people who possess and use them.
Small arms appear to be more concentrated in the hands of armed groups, criminal gangs and elites. From the Small Arms Survey Study of Press Reports suggests that most civilians are unarmed, and that civilian possession is not widespread. According to the study, in cases of reported violence, civilians rarely responded as armed actors. Instead, small arms appear to be held by select groups.
In addition to the Military and the Police, politicians, armed groups, and political thugs are the most commonly cited possessors of these weapons. The pattern of victimization in Nigeria matches more closely patterns seen in countries at war than those at peace. In these incidents, people were killed. According to the same report, these are only events captured by the international and national press. Most of the effects of armed violence during this period were suffered by unarmed civilians, while the armed perpetrators suffered the fewest negative effects.
Crime rates have been exacerbated by the high proliferation of small arms throughout the country Human Rights Watch: The economic costs of armed violence represent resources lost to Nigerian society that could have been invested in projects that benefit to the economy and population. Direct costs arise from violence involve actual expenditure. Indirect costs represent lost resources and opportunities.
Small arms survey in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
In the Niger Delta for example, oil has become a contributor of violence due to a permanent sabotage perpetrated by armed groups in the region. To test our hypotheses, we need to assess the impact of our independent variable on the Small Arms Acquisition by the Nigeria government over time, from the s to the s through imports, and by individuals and armed groups through local production. The analysis of our dependent variable on Insecurity in Nigeria is extended on the same period regarding the coups events that design the sum of successful coups, failed and coups plots, as well as the crime statistics.
We use a causal model sustained by a decade long intervals which seems to be suitable in this context, because the increase of military spending and the high levels of small arms surplus cause the increase of violence over the years. Our data set is collected from numerous sources including media reports such as BBC and Reuters News articles, SIPRI Year Book , listing the types of regimes and the number of coups events that occurred in Nigeria, as well as statistics on religious and ethnic incidents and clashes that took place throughout the country since The Small Arms Survey we use compiles statistics on the number of security agencies operating in the country, statistics on military expenditures and on craft production.
National media sources such as Ebo displays kidnapping operations in the Niger Delta. Table 1 shows the results of the causal model analysis on the increase of the military spending and the political instability in the country. Eight coups events occurred in the country from to It is likely that expenditures on small arms imports may directly or indirectly affect the likehood of coups in Nigeria. In addition, small arms transfers have strengthened the political centrality of the Military Thomas H.: The increase of arms acquisition not only increases firepower of the Military, but also initiates a chain of events that cumulates in strengthening the Armed Forces.
Table 1 also shows seven military governments during the same period. Consequently, military forces are likely to feel that they not only have the ability to manage the government, but could do a better job than the civilian government. Thus the centrality of the Military is an overwhelming pattern in Nigeria politics.
- RICHES: A BLESSING OR A SNARE?;
- Chill.
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- Sutherlands Rules.
Military centrality theory emphasizes on the political position of the Armed Forces vs. The basic argument is that civilian leaders would have little or no control over the Military if the Military is dominant in the society. The main finding is that shipments and the increase of military spending have had long-term direct effects on the occurrence of political instability and coups in Nigeria. Weapons in too many hands risk increasing violence. Once in wrong hands they pose an even greater risk that they will be used to also abuse human rights.
So the availability of small arms itself is one important factor in determining the level of violence. An Executive Summary including recommendations is also available in English and Swahili. Blue Skies and Dark Clouds: Analysis of National Reports: Small Arms in Brazil: Executive summary available in Tetum. Arms in and around Mauritania: Surplus Arms in South America: Gangs of Central America: Trading Life, Trading Death: Small Arms in Rio de Janeiro: Quoi de neuf sur le front congolais?
Hazen with Jonas Horner, December Small Arms in Burundi: Islands of Safety in a Sea of Guns: Neil MacFarlane, November Behind a Veil of Secrecy: Gun-running in Papua New Guinea: Small Arms in Kyrgyzstan: In the Shadow of a Cease-fire: Kosovo and the Gun: Demand, Stockpiles, and Social Controls: Small Arms in Yemen , by Derek B. Making Global Public Policy: Politics from the Barrel of a Gun: Shining a Light on Small Arms Exports: Removing Small Arms from Society: Re-Armament in Sierra Leone: Identification and Support Cards.
Unplanned Explosions at Munitions Sites. Design, Monitoring and Evaluation Training. The Ammunition Tracing Kit. The Weapons ID Database.
- Calvin at the Centre!
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- BICC Research Clusters/Small arms survey in the Democratic Republic of the Congo;
- Kreuz und Quer durch Down Under (German Edition);
- Project team.
Economic Impact of Armed Violence. Broader Impacts of Armed Conflict. India Armed Violence Assessment. Liberia Armed Violence Assessment. Nepal Armed Violence Assessment. Security Assessment in North Africa.
Small Arms in Eastern Congo - A Survey on the Perception of Insecurity
Timor-Leste Armed Violence Assessment. Yemen Armed Violence Assessment. Stockpile Management and Security. Weapons Collection and Destruction.