The Nigerian government has announced plans to investigate the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) as a primary route for smuggling weapons into the country. This move comes as Nigeria struggles with the escalating proliferation of small arms and light weapons. While the decision is a step in the right direction, some critics argue it is too little, too late. Attayi Ajobe & Muhammad Mansur write that the government’s slow response to the growing threat of weapons smuggling has exacerbated the issue.
The recent disclosure by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, that the federal government is probing GoG’s role in arms trafficking into Nigeria has shed new light on the country’s arms proliferation problem.
At a seminar on “Climate Change and the Changing Dynamics of Arms Proliferation and Insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea: Nigeria in Perspective”, Ribadu said that reports indicated small and light weapons were smuggled through the maritime sector.
Meanwhile, maritime security experts are well aware that Nigeria’s coastal routes have long been vulnerable to arms trafficking. In fact, the country’s geographical location and regional security dynamics make it a transit and destination point for illicit weapons. This issue has been ongoing, with instances of sea piracy contributing to increased illegal arms trafficking, such as the 2010 seizure of 13 containers of illegal arms at the Apapa Sea Port in Lagos State.
A region of riches, threats
Located in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, off Africa’s western coast, the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) stretches from Senegal to Angola, connecting Africa to the world. The region comprises 14 countries: Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, and hosts abundant oil, natural gas and other mineral reserves; major sea ports, shipping and trade routes. With an estimated 24 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, GoG contributes approximately five million barrels daily to the global crude supply.
Despite these, GoG’s vast potential is overshadowed by numerous maritime security threats, including piracy, robbery, kidnapping, drug trafficking and arms smuggling.
Ribadu noted that, “The GoG’s lucrative natural resources, shipping and economic activities attract illicit actors with ulterior motives, including organised crime syndicates.”
This position was collaborated by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) which claimed an upsurge in insecurity in GoG in its latest report, covering January to September, 2023. The report revealed that within the period, 85 vessels were boarded, nine had attempted attacks, three were hijacked and two were fired upon.
According to security experts, even more alarming is that these international crime syndicates are also involved in the smuggling of small arms and light weapons which have been aiding conflicts in all parts of the country.
Statistics obtained by NEXTER indicated that no fewer than 6,154,000 of such weapons are illegally circulating among civilian non-state actors and criminals in Nigeria. This almost triples the number of firearms in the hands of the country’s military and other law enforcement agencies combined which are put at 224,200 and 362,400 respectively.
Security sources told our reporters that the non-state actors were more sophisticated in terms of calibre of weapons in their possession and logistics.
They said the only edge the government forces had over the terrorists was training and tactical discipline.
They were unanimous that the superiority in weaponry and logistics, coupled with a few instances of compromise by bad eggs in the military, had exacerbated the conflicts and increased the number of casualties.
This can be seen from a recent data, which revealed that 63,111 people were killed in the last eight years due to terrorism, banditry, herders/farmers clashes, communal crises, cult clashes and extrajudicial killings. The statistics which was confirmed by the Nigeria Security Tracker (NST) has been variously described as alarming and unacceptable.
Experts also blamed Nigeria’s borders with its neighbours and booming business of gun-running and proliferation of arms in the country.
They disclosed that over the past decade, arms proliferation in Nigeria continued to rise, especially after the fall of Libya, as thousands of illicit guns found their way through the Sahara and Sahel into Nigeria.
This was confirmed by a three-year study into the proliferation of weapons used by armed groups involved in Nigeria’s herder-farmer conflicts by the Conflict Armament Research (CAR), an independent investigative organisation based in the United Kingdom: which said that the situation “shows that most of the weapons were smuggled into the country from Libya, Turkey and Côte d’Ivoire.”
The lethal legacy of unbridled arms
In Nigeria, the proliferation of arms is believed to have aided non-state actors like Boko Haram, militants and insurgents. It also undermines the state’s monopoly of instruments of coercion, portraying the country’s security system as weak. Another danger arises when small arms fall into the hands of non-state actors: they become instruments of terror wielded by those who have no regard for international laws and conventions, thus complicating conflict resolution.
There is a unanimous consensus among security experts and researchers that the proliferation of small arms poses serious challenges to the sustenance of peace and stability of any society. They also agreed that the availability of small arms has a direct influence on the escalation and sustenance of insecurity.
A research conducted between May, 2019, and April, 2020, by SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence, with support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), revealed that there is interconnection between the concepts as “proliferation of small arms drives mass atrocities which triggers the movement of people within Nigeria.”
Arms smuggling trends in Nigeria
NEXTER’S analysis revealed that thousands of live ammunition have been intercepted in various ports across Nigeria in the last seven years. The ugly development continue amid outbreak of violent conflicts which have, over the years, claimed thousands of lives and property.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, last month, said that since 2018 customs intercepted 20 significant shipments comprising 10,498 pieces of various arms and 114,929 pieces of ammunition, with an estimated duty-paid value of N9.58bn, adding that 60 per cent of the seizures happened in 2023.
Adeniyi stated that the recent surge accounted for 34.67 per cent of the total DPV, 20.58 per cent of the arms seized, and 99.62 per cent of the ammunition intercepted over the six years.
These statistics not only highlight the intensity of arms smuggling into the country but also reveal the evolving tactics employed by smugglers.
The customs’ latest seizure was in July, 2024, when its operatives intercepted nine containers from Turkey through Onne in River State, Nigeria, bearing 844 units of rifles and 112,500 pieces of live ammunition. Further breakdown of the items, according to the custom’s boss, are, “764 units of Tomahawk Jojef Magnum Black Pump Action Rifles 10 units of VC Verney Caron Gunmakers Jojef Magnum Silver Pump Action Rifles 50 units of VC Verney Caron Gunmaker Double Barrel Rifles 20 units of VC Verney Caron Gunmaker Single Barrel Rifles Exclusive Series, Sterling High-Quality Live Ammunition 34g – 25 Plastic Shotgun Shells (70MM).”
Aside this, within the first two weeks of July, 2023, customs intercepted a total of 31 rifles and ammunition concealed in plastic drums and sacks of charcoal at the Lagos port. Also, in November, 2023, its operatives in Port Harcourt Area 2 Command seized a vehicle coming from the United States containing a pistol and 100 live ammunition at Onne port. The weapons were declared as household items concealed inside the vehicle.
On July 5, 2022, the Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU) in a joint operation with the police, DSS and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), carried out an examination of a 1x40ft container at the Ports and Terminal Multiservices Limited and uncovered 10 arms and ammunition concealed inside a plastic drum and sacks of charcoal. A breakdown of the concealed items were three pump action rifles, one armed rifle, six pistols and 442 rounds of live ammunition.
In December, 2021, the NCS intercepted a container loaded with guns at terminal B2 (Vehicle) Tin Can Island in Lagos. The owner of the container allegedly declared its content as plasma televisions, but checks by NSC officials proved otherwise.
Also, on February 16, 2016, security agents intercepted a 40ft container with 980 rounds of 9mm live ammunition and a pistol imported into the country from the United States at the Tin Can Island, Lagos, Nigeria. And on July 26, a revolver gun was seized at Tin Can port. On November 16, NCS operatives intercepted 7,504 premier hollow air gun pellets/tactical rifles.
As insecurity surge in the country in 2016, the Customs operative also made some seizure. On December 19, they intercepted arms and ammunition in two cars imported from the United States.
The seizures of illegal smuggling/importation of firearms by operative the NCS continue through 2017. On January 30, 2017, officers of the agency on “information patrol” intercepted 661 Pump Action handguns concealed inside a 40-foot container. Four months later, the operatives intercepted 440 pump-action rifles, cleverly hidden in a container; and in September they intercepted 1,100 pump action rifles, disguised as wash hand basins, through the Lagos ports.
A report from SB Morgan Intelligence estimated small arms in circulation in the hands of civilian non-state actors at 6,145,000. With this large number of illicit arms in circulation, it concluded that the proliferation of small arms and dangerous ammunition would continue to increase the rate of violence and insecurity in Nigeria.
Security experts concur with SB Morgan’s assertion that despite the government’s initiatives, such as the Deep Blue Project, to combat illicit weapons smuggling in the Gulf of Guinea, arms smuggling persists unabated through Nigeria’s sea ports. The Deep Blue Project is a comprehensive security initiative designed to secure the country’s maritime environment, but its impact has been insufficient in stemming the tide of arms smuggling.
The ongoing challenge underscores the complexity of Nigeria’s national security landscape, where the proliferation of small arms and light weapons continues to fuel violence and insecurity.
