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COUNTING THE LOSSES: THE ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIO-

CULTURAL IMPACT OF SALW PROLIFERATION, WHO GAINS WITH 

DISARMAMENT 

 

BY 

OKECHUKWU, GROUPSON PAUL 

groupsonpaul@yahoo.com 

                                               Department of Political Science 

   Alex Ekweme Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo (FUNAI), 

                                                 Abakaliki – Ebonyi State, Nigeria 

 

Introduction 

Most present-day conflicts are fought mainly with small arms. They are broadly used in 

inter-State conflict and they are the weapons of choice in civil wars and for terrorism, 

organized crime and gang warfare. Small arms are cheap, light, and easy to handle, 

transport and conceal. A build-up of small arms alone does not create conflict, but their 

excessive accumulation and wide availability often aggravate tension, often leading to 

more lethal and longer lasting violence. 

 

This paper therefore, focuses on the impact of illicit proliferation of SALW on the 

economic, political and socio-cultural life of the people of Nigeria without losing sight 

of societal losses and gains of disarmament. Attempt is made to answer the following 

questions: 

  What are the impacts of SALW proliferation on National development? 

  What are the societal loses that have accrued from SALW proliferation? 

  How has the joy of a society that experienced disarmament be in a peaceful 

atmosphere? 

 

Conceptualization of terms 

SALW Proliferation: Small arms and light weapon proliferation is the increase in 

number of illicit items. According to UN (1995) and ECOWAS Convention (1998) are  

light machine guns, assault rifles, revolvers, self-loading pistols, grenade launchers, sub-

machine guns, exploding bomb, an incendiary bomb or gas bomb, rocket launcher, a 

missile, a missile system and landmine; carbines and light machine guns. The light 

weapons, on the other hand are: heavy machine guns; portable grenade launchers, mobile 

or mounted; portable anti-aircraft cannons; portable anti-tank cannons, non-recoil guns; 

portable anti-tank missile launchers or rocket launcher; portable anti-aircraft missile 

launcher; mortars with a caliber of less than 100mm among others. These weapons are 

responsible for the majority of battle related conflicts and deaths. 

 

mailto:groupsonpaul@yahoo.com


 

 

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Economic, Political, Socio-Cultural Impacts: Economic, Political and socio-cultural 

impacts relates to the effect of SALW proliferation on the lives of the people when 

expressed in terms of their economy, politics, including their general way of life. 

 

SALW Disarmament: This is the act of reducing the size of small arms/light weapons 

among ethnic combatants. 

 

Impacts On National Development and Disarmament 

Development involves progression, movement, and advancement towards something 

better. It is improvement on the material and non-material aspects of life. It involves 

action, reaction, and motion. A developing community is thus a community in motion, a 

people in search of self-improvement and a group concerned with and committed to, its 

advancement through its own effort.  

 

Emphatically, development is all about people living a happier life. Any meaningful 

development must cut across sections of the people’s economic, political and socio-

cultural aspects of their national life in a positive dimension. 

 

In the light of the above explanation, small arms and light weapon proliferation in Nigeria 

has greatly impacted on national development, which in effect affects the people and 

society at large.   

 

1.3 million Children have been forced to flee their homes from conflict in North East 

Nigeria. Hundreds are facing starvation every day. Many are struggling in temporary 

camps where disease and hunger are rife.  

 

Conflict in North East Nigeria has led to the active targeting of education. Millions of 

children are now deprived of the chance to go to school. In Borno state, 3 in 5 schools 

are closed and over 19,000 teachers have been displaced from their classrooms. 

 

There is drastic reduction in food production as a result of insecurity occasioned by 

constant clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers. Farming activities have come 

under threat in the middle belt and southern regions owing to the menace of Fulani 

herdsmen who have terrorized communities in recent times. The violence has reduced 

the movement of cattle and foodstuff to markets in the southern part of the country, as 

the Hausa/ Fulani traders are wary of traveling down to the region for fear of reprisal 

attacks. Many farmers in the South had abandoned their farmlands for security reasons, 

traders from the North have cut down on the quantity of cattle, rice, beans and vegetables 

they move down to the South for sale. 

 



 

 

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The point been made is that SALW proliferation is grossly under-developing Nigeria in 

so far as it negatively affect the indices/indicators of development. 

 

Disarmament is the effort made to make society to be free of illicit arms, which in turn 

drive away fear, suppression, intimidation and violence in any given society. An armed 

free society enjoy social civility and encourage development. It also advance technology 

and enhance the economy of the state. The level of opening up in turn empower many 

youths and the jobless who craves to engage in meaningful ventures and exists in society 

driven by development. The people, general society and mostly the future generation 

gains in the advancement of the state. Peace and tranquillity cultured in the atmosphere 

of development and progressions become the general gain of all.   

 

Societal Losses and Implications 

The proliferation and use of SALW in ethno-religious clashes and armed robbery have 

killed more than 10,000 Nigerians, an average of 1000 people per year since 1999. The 

majority of casualties about 66% in Kano riot of 2004 were SALW victims sustaining 

permanent disabilities. Injuries due to SALW have increased as much as ten-fold in urban 

Nigeria because most homicides are committed using SALW (John, Mohammed, Pinto 

and Nkanta, 2007; Nte, 2011).  

 

Arms build-up has fuelled violence in different parts of Nigeria – especially communal 

clashes and ethno-religious conflicts. Between 1999 and April 2010, Nigeria recorded at 

least 187 ethnoreligious conflicts, leading to the death of several thousands of people. 

These weapons helped to prolong conflicts, induced huge internal population 

displacement, undermined social peace and devastated the economic livelihoods of 

individuals and communities.  

 

As a result of recurrent violent conflicts, Nigeria is faced with the Herculean task of 

responding to a fluctuating but always sizeable number of internally displaced persons 

(IDPs). Between 2000 and 2002, for instance, an estimated 1,713,306 persons were 

displaced by ethno-religious conflicts and, by June 2013, some 1.6 million Nigerians are 

estimated to have been internally displaced. The January 2010 crisis in Jos displaced over 

40,000 persons. Situations of internal displacement undermine human security at 

individual and community levels. IDPs are usually vulnerable to violent crimes like 

robbery and rape, and are prone to contracting contagious diseases, due to poor sanitary 

conditions at the (re)settlement centres.  

 

The impact of Nigeria’s SALWs problem on human security is also evident in financial 

losses induced by conflicts. About 10 major ethno-religious conflicts between 1999 and 

2004 cost the Nigerian government over 400 million naira (US$2.86 million). Besides, 

the amount of money that governments spend on security during such crises and their 



 

 

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aftermath are huge. In the aftermath of the Jos crisis in early 2010, the federal government 

assisted the Bauchi State government with ₦135 million (US$900 000) to help resettle 

or integrate about 30,000 IDPs from neighbouring Plateau State seeking refuge in Bauchi 

State. 

 

Since Boko Haram emerged from the shadows about four years ago, once armed militar-

ily, one of the first obvious economic concerns was the almost immediate drop in foreign 

direct investment (FDI), with the concern being whether the government had the where-

withal to deal with the serious insurrection and stave off the many decades of political 

instability the country has faced. According to the World Investment Report (WIR) 2013, 

FDI flows into Nigeria dropped by 21% in just one year from $8.9 billion in 2011 to $7 

billion in 2012. The loss of $1.9 billion for a country in desperate need of money such as 

Nigeria is a staggering blow. 

 

Beyond the cost to government, individuals lose property and family members. The loss 

of property compounds the problem of poverty and deprivation of the affected 

population. Through the death of family members, arms induced conflicts lead to a deep 

fracturing of kinship and family structures – many children have been left without 

parents, husbands without wives, and vice versa. When a family unit is dismantled, 

children suffer and their future wellbeing is often bleak, as they are denied good parental 

care. Many end up as social miscreants who contribute to violent crimes. The worrisome 

situation is that these loses has exacerbated. 

 

Conclusion and Recommendations 

For instance if the youths of Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Niger Delta and South East among 

others consciously or unconsciously indulge in small arms acquisition that might have 

encouraged them to engage in violence and or conflict, the tendency that many might die 

premature, maimed and or become disable for life becomes the obvious. At the end such 

arm carried had not only help in aiding underdevelopment of the people, the community 

and society as a whole but had terribly thrown up and created several problem to the 

society. It suffix this study also to make the following recommendations: 

•  The Nigerian government should encapsulates, strengthen institutions and 

processes of governance to enhance social provisioning for its citizens, who are 

becoming increasingly frustrated over governance failure, thereby resorting to 

violent crimes that increase demand for SALW and it must also extends to an 

aggressive job creation programme for Nigeria’s teeming and idle youths who are 

as a result become hopeless. 

 

•  The National Orientation Agency should partner with credible civil society 

organizations (CSOs) and the media to mount enlightenment and orientation 

programmes on the practice of security situation awareness or security 



 

 

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consciousness critical to crime prevention. This will enable people to appreciate 

the importance of monitoring developments around them and to report 

unwholesome activities (arms trafficking) to security agencies. 

 

•  Robust funding and provision of equipment for security agencies, including 

security posts at the nation’s entry points: land, sea and airports. 

 

•  Conduct of regular and comprehensive verification exercises to ensure that 

government arms are not being stolen. 

 

 

•  Nigerian government should continue with the amnesty programme instituted by 

the government of late president Shehu Musa Y’aradua at the Niger Delta. 

 

 

References 

John, I. A. Mohammed, A. Z; Pinto, A. D and Nkanta, C. A. (2007). Gun Violence in 

Nigeria: A focus on ethno religious conflict in Kano, Journal of Public Health 

Policy 28, 420-431 2014, “An Appraisal of Terrorism, Armed Violence and SALW 

in West Africa and the Implementation of Sub-Regional Instrument (ECOWAS 

Convention)” in The National   Stakeholders Consultative Forum on illicit Small 

arms an Light Weapons (SALW) Proliferations in Nigeria, 2nd-4th June. Abuja. 

2014, “UN International Arms Control” in UNREC. Mandate 

A/RES/40/151/GUNODA. www.smallarmsstandards.org, www.un.org/disarmam

ent/unsafeguard 

 

 

http://www.smallarmsstandards.org/
http://www.un.org/disarmament/unsafeguard
http://www.un.org/disarmament/unsafeguard

