THE PROLIFERATION OF SMALL ARMS AND LIGHT WEAPONS IN WEST AFRICA, AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SUB-REGION

This Paper examined the problem of proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons and its implications for the West African sub-region. The increasing wave of proliferation of SALW across the West Africa have resulted in series of wars, violent crimes, insurgencies’, militancy, armed banditry and terrorism, which have ravaged lives and properties of many people in West African countries, including Nigeria, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Niger. This has created some security and developmental challenges in the sub-region, as efforts by ECOWAS, NGOs and Civil Societies to combat the menace have not yielded the desired result. Secondary sources of data collection were used in the study and the data collected was contently analyzed. The study finds that efforts to effectively check the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons have been undermined by factors of corruption, trans-border migration, porous international borders, systemic regulatory inefficiency and poverty among others. The paper recommends that; ECOWAS should show renewed vigor in addressing the problem of proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons, develop effective and efficient measures for improved boarder control, the banning of undocumented trans-border migrations, establishment of effective mechanism for enforcement of arms control, the reconstitution of boarder security architecture, establishment of a sub-regional agency for boarder control, and ECOWAS should address the complex socio-political and economic factors that engender conflicts. Equally, the paper urges the West African countries to pay attention to gathering and sharing of intelligence information.