77 Legal and Regulatory Challenges for the Proliferation of Small and Light Weapons in Nigeria Salisu Malami a *, Nor Anita Abdullah b , Zuryati Mohamed Yusoff b a Aminu Kano College of Islamic and Legal Studies, Kano, Nigeria. b, School of Law, College of Law, Government and International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia. Email of corresponding author: smalamilegal@gmail.com Abstract The Nigerian security challenges can be significantly ascribed to the proliferation of small and light weapons (SALW). It is a universal phenomenon that causes serious security problems ranging from cattle rustling, armed robbery, assassination, kidnapping, militancy and terrorist attacks. It serves as a main source of obliteration of lives and properties. Controlling the proliferation of SALW is in the interest of government and governed. This paper examines the legal and regulatory challenges curtailing the control of proliferation of SALW in Nigeria. It equally explores and identifies gaps and lacuna in the legal and institutional frameworks. For practical steps towards effective control of proliferation of weapons legal and institutional reforms are suggested. These include the review of the Firearms Act 1959 to include far reaching provisions. The Act should provide for the creation of National Commission on SALW. The research paper is valuable to the policy makers, the security agencies and the entire citizens. Keywords: Small arms, light weapons, challenges, proliferation, Nigeria. 1. Introduction The rate of proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria is endemic. 1 It is one of the major security challenges facing Africa and the rest of the world. 2 Lack of adequate regulations and strong regulatory mechanisms exacerbate availability of small arms which in turn fuel terrorism, political, ethnic and religious crisis. It also postures serious setback to security and sustainable development. 3 The widespread of small arms constitute main source of obliteration to lives and properties. 4 The issue of SALW Proliferation and the dangers it poses to the security of lives and properties of Nigerians could be attributed to legal and regulatory problems. These problems are what this paper appraised. 1.2 Conceptual Framework/ Clarification The following provides operational definition of some terms and concepts used in the research paper. Small arm and Light weapon: The term small arm and light weapon herein after referred to as SALW has been defined by global, regional, sub regional and national legislations. Although there is no universally accepted definition to the term SALW, the report of the United Nations panel of Government Experts on small arms in 1997 considers as those: Weapons ranging from clubs, knife and machete, to those weapons just below those covered by the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, for instance, mortars below the caliber of 1 (Osimen Goddy, 2015) 2 (Malam, 2014) 3 (Uchenna, 2015)(Thom-Otuya, 2009) 4 (Chelule, 2014) brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Repository@USM