The President of the Nigerian Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki in his
remark at the opening ceremony of the 2016 2nd Ordinary Session of the 4th
Legislature of ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja which held on the 22nd of September, highlighted
peace as a precursor to West African sub-regional development. He explicitly
pointed that peace building is integral to sustainable progress in the
development of the region, stating that “peace building should aim at improving
the democratic process, human rights, rule of law and equitable access to the
abundant resources…” He emphasized that integration amongst Member States, and
not isolation is germane to restoration of peace to troubled states. Dr. Saraki’s
position could be said to hinge on the previous
day’s celebration of International World Pace Day, which is marked every 21st
September, with this year’s theme as “The Sustainable Development Goals:
Building Blocks for Peace.”
Speaking further, Dr. Saraki recounts that small and light
weapon proliferation is one of the major challenges of West Africa which has
resulted in frequent increase in communal clashes. He alleged that about
“77,000 of the small arms are within the control of insurgent groups in the region”,
making reference to the problem of herdsmen and farmers clashes which has
become the bane of the Nigerian society in recent times. The President of the
Nigerian Senate was of the opinion that porous borders are responsible to the
illicit acquisition of most of these weapons. Consequently, “small arms
proliferation has contributed to the mobilization for coup d’etat, undemocratic
overthrow of governments, the rise of militant groups, increasing casualties
and violent inter communal and intra state conflicts in West Africa”.
In his concluding remark, Saraki admonished Members of the
ECOWAS Parliament to take it upon themselves during plenary, in proposing ways
for the mitigation of these vices and enthrone peaceful environment that would herald
sustainable development.
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