Youth and proliferation of small and light weapons.
Ibitomi olawale olalowo
Ibitomiolawale18@gmail.com.

Proliferation of small arms and light weapon has had and continue to have devastating consequences on the future of the youth in Nigeria and sub-Saharan African, this is due to their lethal efficient nature, easy accessibility, indiscriminate usage and devastating havocs they often used to wreak in the societies. Small arms denote weapon designed for individual use, such as pistols, sub-machine gun, assault rifles, while light weapon include: heavy machine guns, hand-held under barrel and mounted grenade launchers. The proliferation of small arms and light weapon are the primary cause of violence among the youth who tend to held the atmosphere of superiority, also small arms and light weapon contribute to lingering crises we have in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.
Article 2 of the draft international firearm protocol define the proliferation of small arms and light weapon as the illicit firearms trafficking as “the importing, exporting, acquisition, sale, delivery and movement of firearms, their parts and components and ammunition from or across the territory of one state party to that of another state party without the authorization of or violation of the regulation or legislation of any of the state parties concerned. The biggest factor that contribute to increase in demand for fire arms among youth is the persistent conflict that have occurred and those that are projected to happen in the future, this is the summaries perspectives of youth who live in a crisis prone area, “when you carry a gun, you feel like you are a human being” , ideally we are all human being but the ideal of being able to defend yourselves against external threat who has access to gun motive or gives incentive to youth to acquire weapon. Insecurity and conflict are the fundamental factor that contribute to the proliferation of small arms and light weapon in Nigeria and sub-Africa at large, recently retired General TY Danjuma, the current minister for defence major general Bashir Magashi, governor Aminu Masari and governor Samuel Ortom of Kastina and Beune state respectively call for self defence, these are the instance that increase proliferation of small arms and light weapon among the youth.
Firearms among youth have contributed significantly to the formation of militarized behavior, attitude and world-view, which have promoted the mentality of resolving differences with guns, social vices behavior like street gang, armed robbery, cult clash, rape, kidnapping and banditry, all these social vice has one general undertone factor that motive them, it’s the availability and accessibility of small arms and light weapon, The use of gun has become a channel of communication in expressing grievance which seems to have become fashionable among the youth.
According to small arms survey (2007), small arms in Africa are distributed among their users as follows. 79% are in the hand of civilian (youth): 16% of the military: 3% of the police and 2%of the insurgents, it intuitively suggests in Africa, more arms are in the hand of youth than the security agencies. I was fortunate to participate as a sub-committee co-chair on silencing gun in Africa a reality or an illusion. most of the general respondent of people interview in crisis area are summaries as follows “ you will be surprise on the range, types and number of weapon they bring out during crisis, these are people you know during period of peace, the caliber and weapon display are no match with the Nigerian police”. Some of the weapons are automatic ones which are made from the factories, and then local production by blacksmith and our welders. They are also very lethal because they fire and cause havoc.
According to kytomaki (2015) more than 2000 people are killed as a consequence of armed violence as a result of availability of small arms and light weapon was estimated to be between 500,000 and 750,000 people are killed annually. Putting into the consideration the proportion of arms conflict in nigeria ranging from kidnapping, banditry, cult clashes, armed robbery and the chief, boko haram insurgence. Therefore, small arms and light weapon proliferation remain a factor in conflict, the displacement of people, organized crimes and act of terrorisms.

Effect of small arms and light weapon proliferation on the youth.
The adverse effect of small arms and light weapon proliferation on youth comprises of three broad component, these are the alienated right and freedom, development and governance. The presence of firearms threatens the lives and livelihood of individual as they go about their daily activities.
The alienated right and freedom to which all human are entitled, is usually the first and most important area that is seriously affected by the proliferation of small arms and light weapon. Various group seek to acquire weapons in order to exercise their will or enforce control on other, a typical illustration is the persistent cult clash in Nigeria universities, herdsmen-farmer clashes, kidnapping and banditry. Therefore, small arms and light weapon proliferation significantly undermine human right, basically the youth often bear the ultimate price because they are the perpetrator and also the victim. An example is the number vibrant youth who could have contribute to the development of this country have fall victim of the proliferation of small and light weapon, although some may be a member of secret societies that does not justify incessant killing of firearm. There are also three key in which proliferation of firearms can abused human right. The escalation and extension of conflict, strengthening of criminals and criminal organization and increase crimes against women and children.
The proliferation of small arms and light weapon is recognized as an obstacle to development. Development in crisis prone region in Nigeria like the northeast, northwest and north central has reduced drastically. The youth bear burden of unavailability of jobs, relocation of factories to safer environment. There are three mechanisms in which firearm proliferation can induce or serve as an obstacle to development; they are direct costs, indirect costs and obstruction of delivery access to public goods.

Direct cost: human cost, the direct cost of conflict in Jos, Kaduna, Zamfara, Kastina, boko haram group and aftermath of Endsars protest, it direct human cost exhibited in form of injuries, death, destruction of properties of people living in that particular region, majority of people who fall victim are youth and that result as a proliferation of firearms.

Indirect cost: firearms proliferation impede economic development of a country as a result in the displacement of large number of people, it also deterred economic development that the region incur during the time of conflict, foreign investors become weary of investing in the country for fear of losing their life long investment. As a result of conflict, economic development comes to a stop and at times is reversed.

Obstruct delivery and access to public goods: essential services like education and health are indicator of economic development. In crisis prone area induce by the proliferation of firearms, health workers are reluctant or unable to work, it also applies to public services that help sustain economic development such as education(). Proliferation of small and light weapon limits country potential to economically develop in both the long and short run.
On governance: the government of Nigeria is not only charged with providing economic development, but also public goods of security to it peoples. High level of firearms in Nigeria which have induced different negative social vices and that has been on a heavy burden in running the affair of Nigeria. To the extend some state actor are calling for self defence.
Recommendation and conclusion
The first and important criteria in reducing the number of small arms and light weapon can only be achieved if the government can promote a science of security, where everybody should feel secure, asking an average person about the security situation of the country “all he or she could say is that nobody is safe” this mode of reasoning increase the demand for firearms, and as portray by notable Nigerian increase the degree of proliferation of firearms recently. Secondly, in sub-Saharan Africa, each country should set up individual policies to curb the menace of firearms. Application of one country’s national responses may unlikely meet the
desired effects to solve the illicit trade and proliferation of small arms and light weapons of another country. Different conflict situations present varying challenges. These challenges require specifically tailored own-country national response initiatives. Failure to address this special requirement may continue to render the efforts and success of the war against the illicit trade and the proliferation of small arms and light weapon untenable. Thirdly, several outfit have setup by Nigeria government to combat illicit tricking of firearms such as: NCPITSALW 2000, NATFORCE 2009. The main problem that arises when attempting to control the trade of illicit small arms and light weapon is that it requires a multi-faceted approach as an outright ban will not work. It is, therefore, imperative that national controls be established for small arms and light weapon sold within the country legally. Not only are well established controls important, but a system to consistently monitor the flow and ownership of legal weapons after the initial sale is also important. This is so as to ensure that weapons purchased legitimately do not make their way into the hands of arms brokers and criminals. Furthermore, the next step in stopping the proliferation of firearms in sub-Saharan Africa is ensuring better control over the borders of the countries in the region. One of the reasons for the growth and success of small arms and light weapon
Proliferation in the region is due to the open borders in Africa. With the majority of the country’s possessing three or four neighbors, it becomes difficult for states with limited resources to effectively patrol their borders. In addition to this, “many small arms are smuggled across the continent’s porous borders, occasionally disguised as other, more harmless materials, such as food, development assistance, or farming implements. It is important for all the countries to take an active role and emphasize the importance of secure borders not only to the security forces involved but also to its citizens, particularly those situated near the borders. If this can be achieved, the ease with which arms dealers perform their business and their cost of doing business would result in fewer arms dealers.