9 - The Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies

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Law and Security in Nigeria
destabilising effect on national security. 63 The question
whether the accumulation of SALW in a particular region or
setting is excessive and destabilising is relative and depends
not on the number of arms in circulation; rather, it depends
on the efficacy of the legal framework in preventing misuse,
deterring criminal acts and armed violence, and protecting
the rights of persons through the rule of law. Accumulation
of SALW becomes excessive and destabilising only when the
following predominantly apply:
• A state does not exercise restraint in the production,
transfer and acquisition of such weapons beyond those
needed for legitimate national defence and internal
security. 64
• A state, whether a supplier or recipient, cannot
exercise effective control to prevent the illegitimate
acquisition, transfer, transit or circulation of such
weapons.
• The use of such weapons manifests in armed conflicts,
in crime, or other actions contrary to the norms of
national and internal law. 65
This implies that the accrual of a relatively high number
of SALW in a country with well developed legal and
regulatory framework and stability like the US may not be
classified as excessive and destabilising; whereas the
comparatively modest number in Nigeria 66 maybe so
63. Report of the Panel of Government Experts, op cit, para 14.
64. Articles 2 (1) and 15 of the ECOWAS Convention.
65. Report of the Panel of Experts, ibid, para 37.
66. See Small Arms Survey 2007: Guns and the City, (Oxford University Press,
2001), Chapter 2 and Appendix 4, at:
http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/sas/publications/yearb2007.html. In
a list of countries in descending order of guns ownership in 2007, US is
listed as number 1 with the highest number of guns ownership of 90 per