Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago has inaugurated the office building of Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), for the North-Central Zone, established by the office of the National Security Adviser in Minna.
Inaugurating the edifice, Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago described it as a milestone achievement under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Governor Umaru Bago who observed that the North Central region has been badly affected by insecurity, leading to the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, said he will champion the establishment of State offices of the NCCSALW, in the Zone.
He also advocated the collaboration of the office of the National Security Adviser to create the North Central Security Committee, where peculiar issues of the region would be discussed with the view to addressing them.
The Governor further called for a partnership with the office of the Security Adviser to cultivate the ungoverned spaces in the State to boost the Federal and State government agricultural policies on food security.
He appreciated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National Security Adviser and the Director General of the NCCSALW for the establishment of the Center in Minna
The Director General NCCSALW, Office of the National Security Adviser, DIG Johnson Babatunde Kokuma (Rtd) who also represented the National Security Adviser, Mal. Nuhu Ribadu, said the establishment of the centre in the North Central Zone of the country is a critical step in the operational strategy to bring the fight against illicit arms closer to the people.
He said the new zonal office will serve as a hub for strategic operations in the region, a centre for intelligence gathering and analysis, a platform for enhanced inter-agency collaboration and a base for community engagement and awareness programmes.
The DG appreciated the National Security Adviser for his visionary leadership and also thanked the farmer Governor Umaru Bago for providing an enabling environment for the project.
In their separate goodwill messages, the representatives of the Governors of Benue, Plateau, Kogi and Nassarawa States acknowledged the proliferation of illicit arms in North Central States and promised to collectively fight against it, ensure a more secure region even as they commended the establishment of the Zonal office.
Lt. Col. Sani Uba, who gave the overview of security in the North Central Zone of the country, disclosed that the states in the zone share borders with countries where banditry and illicit arms trafficking activities are high, thereby leading to the influx of bandits in the zone.
He said the establishment of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons in the zone will ensure the total eradication of illicit arms in the region and the country as a whole.
