Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, has expressed concern about the widespread availability of guns in Nigeria, stating that around 200 million illegal firearms are in circulation in the country.
In an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, the Governor discussed his efforts to revise the Firearms Act during his time in the Senate, mentioning that the current law in Nigeria doesn’t match up with global standards.
Sani pointed out the outdated state of the Firearms Act in Nigeria, stressing that it hasn’t been updated for more than 30 years.
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In his words “When I was in the Senate I tried to amend the Firearms Act because it is obsolete. The last time the Firearms Act was amended in Nigeria was over 30 years ago.
“The firearms act in Nigeria is not in line with the global best practices. Nigeria is the only country where you can be arrested with illegal firearms and can be taken to court and you can be released based on some charges and not imprisonment. You can pay a fine of about 50,000 naira, and you can go home.
“That is why I started emphasising (firearms control) when the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC) tabled the report when I was in the senate that about 200 million illegal firearms are in circulation in Nigeria out of the 250 million in circulation in West Africa,” Sani said.
