By Festus Fifen

**** As Police Hosts 12-Nations in Abuja.

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu, on Monday, declared open the Small Arms and Light Weapons Identification and Tracing (SALW-IT) Simulation Programme in Abuja, describing the disruption of illicit arms supply across borders as central to safeguarding Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.

The five-day programme, running from 12th to 16th October 2026, brings together participants from Nigeria, Chad, the Central African Republic, Mali, Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger, Libya, Benin and the Republic of the Congo. It is designed to strengthen their capacity to identify, mark, register and trace small arms, light weapons and ammunition, combining technical instruction with practical simulations at the Nigeria Police Simulation Centre.

The IGP stressed that small arms and light weapons are among the most potent drivers of electoral violence. He noted that illicitly acquired weapons are used to intimidate voters, harass political opponents, disrupt polling and attack electoral personnel and materials, undermining public confidence in the democratic process. Many of these weapons, he said, enter the country through porous borders and trafficking routes that no single nation can close alone.

Effective weapons tracing, he explained, enables investigators to uncover trafficking networks, financiers and supply routes, allowing targeted action against those who arm criminals and political thugs. Disrupting this supply chain ahead of the 2027 polls will help protect voters and election officials and sustain the conditions necessary for peaceful, free and fair elections.

The IGP observed that the same weapons also fuel terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and organised crime across Africa, making the proliferation of illicit arms a major threat to continental peace and security.

He called for closer sub-regional and continental cooperation through timely intelligence sharing, coordinated investigations and mutual assistance in locating and lawfully apprehending suspects involved in transborder crimes. Such cooperation, he said, must run through established legal and institutional channels so that offenders cannot exploit national borders to evade justice.

To this end, all Inspectors-General of Police from West and East African countries will convene to deliberate on crime-related issues and develop modalities for addressing transborder crime, in support of coordinated responses to shared security threats.

To extend the programme’s benefits to frontline policing, the knowledge and skills acquired will be cascaded through structured training and knowledge-sharing across Police commands and formations. This will enhance officers’ ability to identify, trace and recover weapons, develop actionable intelligence and support routine policing and election-security operations ahead of 2027.

The IGP commended the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPL), the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC), INTERPOL, relevant African Union entities and experts from the German Armed Forces Verification Centre for their support. He urged participants to share operational experiences, build lasting professional relationships and apply the knowledge gained in their home countries.

IGP Disu reaffirmed the Force’s commitment to regional and continental arms-control efforts and pledged sustained institutional support and operational cooperation to translate the training into improved public safety and a secure, peaceful 2027 electoral process.