Influence of weak legislation and non-state armed actors on arms proliferation: Evidence from terrorism in Nigeria

With an aggressive illicit transnational trade along a vastly porous borderline in the North East region of Nigeria, a country not at war but highly militarized with overstretched security agencies, an outdated over six decades Firearms law and a vulnerable civilian populace seeking firearms in self-protection or otherwise; are all the tones needed for proliferations of small arms and Light weapons. It was against this background that this study leverages on State fragility theory to investigate the influence of weak legislation and prevalence of armed non state actors on arms proliferation and terrorism in Nigeria. The study engaged weak legislation and civilian acquisitions of arms to measure influence of proliferation of small arms and light weapon on terrorism in Nigeria. This study employs exploratory research design; by using content analysis of publicly available archive documents. The study relies solely on secondary data. The research is conducted by examining literature concerning arms proliferation and terrorism in Nigeria. The literature was obtained through searches in publicly available material. Literature from non-serial publications, official reports, and conferences has been included particularly if they have been cited by other references in connection with terrorism and arms proliferation. The study submitted that small and light weapons proliferations are extensively aggravated by weak legislation and the prevalence of armed non state actors in Nigeria. Based on these findings, the study concludes that government commitment to combat arms proliferation can only be taken serious when the existing 1959 firearms legislation is revamped and internationalized while it will take only good governance to stem the prevalence of armed non state actors. The study recommends that Federal and State Government should evolve a modern firearm law to give the outdated firearm legislation the needed bites. Lastly, the study recommends that the newly established National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and light Weapons should quickly evolve a database and tracking capability to ease the fight against arms proliferation