The National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) has sought partnership with the Voice of Nigeria (VON) on information dissemination to the public
The National Coordinator of the Centre, retired Maj.-Gen. Abba Dikko, made the appeal, when he led a delegation of the Centre on a courtesy visit to the Director-General of VON, Mr Osita Okechukwu, in Abuja.
Dikko said that the partnership was imperative to strengthen ties with VON and to enunciate the Centre’s activities for wider reach to sensitise Nigerians on the dangers inherent in indulging in illicit activities.
“So, we are here to first and foremost, identify with the Voice of Nigeria, having a very deep outreach; it is indeed the wide coverage and the multi-lingual nature that has made it imperative for us to collaborate with your office.
“So that our activities can be conveyed to the nooks and crannies of the catchment areas; that is critical to the discharge of our responsibilities.
“One of our objectives at the Centre is the mainstreaming of the issues related to the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons in our national discuss.
“We are not just an outfit that address the problems of proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons at the national level, but it goes down to the State and local levels, as well as the citizenry,” he said..
According to him, now that the citizenry are within, we have communities that are related and a lot of interactions have made those communities to become stakeholders in what happens within our domestic space.
“At the same time, they have also become a passage for the influence of our immediate environment in terms of the neighbouring countries and cultures.
“You know that most of our neighbours are francophone countries and good a thing, Voice of Nigeria also transmits in French.
“We have, in our neighbouring countries, languages that are spoken and also used as a medium of communication within the reach of the Voice of Nigeria, which is the Hausa, Youruba and Igbo languages.
“So, there is the need to leverage on this within our reach,” he said.
Dikko said that the centre was established on May 3, 2021 to replace the defunct Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) as part of the restructuring of Nigeria’s security architecture.
Responding, the VON boss commended the Centre for its efforts on security matters.
Okechukwu urged the Centre to carry VON along in a synergy to enable the organisation give its maximum support to the activities of the Centre.
“Why do we go for partnership? It is because we don’t walk away with only press releases.
“If you let us know the concept, it enriches our content because our mandate is to reflect and talk good of Nigeria and Africa.
“We are not into propaganda, we give it as accurate as we can because the Federal Government funds us, which is a plus for us at VON,” he said.
He said that the agency was not entitled to generate funds, hence the need to be in partnership so that we have our content in-house.
“What you dish out in your press statement is what we collect, but let our correspondent also be aware of what is informing such policies.
“So that if he is trying to broadcast the contents, it will be meaningful and in depth.
“The listener will know that the Correspondent is abreast of the happenings at the Centre and did not pick it up from the shelves,” Okechukwu said.
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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Government established the Centre to, among others, address emerging threats and strengthen the regional mechanism for the control, prevention and regulation of Small Arms and Light Weapons in the country.
