Abuja — The Federal Government yesterday inaugurated committee for the establishment of a National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons.

Minister of State for Defence, Mrs Fidelia Akuabata Njeze, said this is coming at a time when the country's peace and stability is increasingly under threat by activities of armed groups, as currently being witnessed in some parts of the country.

The committee, is to propose the mandate and composition of the Commission, recommend a trim structure, organogram and duties of Principal Officers of the Commission's Secretariat, recommend the legal, legislative and administrative procedures towards setting up the Commission and to make any other recommendations incidental to the assignment of the Committee.

"As you all know, the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons has fuelled violent conflicts in Africa, begetting a culture of impunity, militarisation of civilian population, upsurge of criminal activities within and across national borders and emergence of the phenomenon of child soldier.

"Easy to carry and simple to use even by a child, small arms have become the most potent instrument of violence used in Africa conflicts undermining the prospects of stability and development in the region," she said.

Mindful of the adverse consequences of the menace of the proliferation in the West African sub-region, Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS in 1998, endorsed a Moratorium on importation, exportation and manufacture of Small Arms and Light Weapons, to ensure a coordinated fight against the scourge.

Pursuant to the implementation of provisions of the moratorium, member states are required to establish a National Commission/Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons. In Nigeria, however, a National Committee (NATCOM) was established in 2001, rather than a Commission as it was considered expedient to do so at that time," she said.

Chairman of he Committee, Air Commodore John Otaru, said the most urgent of all activities of NATCOM are the issues of ratification of the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons, their Ammunition and other Related Materials, transformation of the Committee to a Commission as required by the Convention, fast-tracking the conduct of national small arms survey, and extensive sensitisation programmes, among others.