From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The federal government is set to release policy to prevent and eradicate illegal ownership of small arms and light weapons,, the presidency has disclosed.
The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement said the rules of a whistleblower mechanism to throw a spotlight on the regime of gun ownership and control in the country were being drawn up.
Shehu said in line with presidential directives, the National Security Adviser, Maj-Gen. Babagana Munguno (rtd) has began work on a template for the discovery and recovery of illegal weapons through a reward system following the success of the whistleblower policy under the Ministry of Finance.
”In the last few days, we had discussed the efforts the administration is making to strengthen the whistleblower mechanism in the Ministry of Finance which, to date has proved to be very effective in bringing the attention of the government to stolen assets and unexplained wealth.
“The ONSA Initiative may be an independent line of inquiry or in active collaboration with what the government is doing in Finance. This will be a sort of searchlight on weapons ownership in the country. Whatever form or shape it takes, the administration wants to take a tough line to curtail the large number of illegal weapons in circulation used in intra and inter-communal conflicts. The aim is to disarm communities especially those with proclivity to violence.”
Shehu disclosed that the ONSA already has a committee on the recovery of small arms and light weapons in the country has decided to adopt the whistleblower approach so as to eradicate mass shooting incidents and remove the harassment of law abiding citizens by holders of illegal weapons.