Abdulsalami worries over insecurity, says six million arms in circulation

Former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, has said over six million arms are in the hands of individuals illegally and expressed concern that the weapons are being used to foment trouble heightening the insecurity in the country.

He also said this had led to over 80,000 deaths and about three million Internally Displaced Persons.

Abubakar, who is also National Peace Committee chairman, made the disclosures on Wednesday at a dialogue session of the committee with key stakeholders in Abuja.

He listed challenges facing the country as the Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, rising poverty; calls for balkanisation of the country from different quarters; threat of hunger arising from insecurity that farmers had continued to face; and despondency among the populace.

He said, “The proliferation of all calibers of weapons not only in our sub-region in general and in Nigeria in particular is worrying. It is estimated that there are over six million of such weapons in circulation in the country. This certainly exacerbated the insecurity that led to over 80,000 deaths and close to three million IDPs.”