The National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), Northeast Zonal Centre, under the Office of the National Security Adviser to the President has partnered with the Nigerian Army to fight the menace of the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons in the country.

Speaking during a courtesy visit to Brig.-Gen. U.V Unachukwu, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division, Nigerian Army Headquarters in Maiduguri on Wednesday, Maj-:Gen Abubakar Adamu (Rtd), the Northeast Zonal Coordinator, NCCSALW Northeast Zonal Centre, said the collaboration was necessary in mopping up Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in the Zone.

While stating the negative impact the proliferation of illicit SALW has on peaceful coexistence in the nation and its socio-economic activities, Adamu pledged the Centre’s continuous cooperation with the Division especially in intelligence sharing which he said, was paramount in preventing the proliferation of this SALW in the country.

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“One of our responsibilities is to prevent the proliferation of small Arms and Light Weapons and to also enlighten the people. We are a multi agency department and we have the police, the DSS, and also retired military officers as well as serving military officers.

“We have been empowered to receive all illicit small arms and light weapons that have been retrieved from all the agencies and we are the people responsible to destroy them

“We are also the only organization empowered to prosecute gun runners and all the people that have been arrested in terms of dealing with small arms and light weapons.

“What we are doing is to visit major stakeholders and to also share intelligence, information and to collaborate because we know without the armed forces, there is no way we can eradicate the proliferation of small Arms and Light Weapons,” he said.

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He further commended the Nigerian Army for always being at the forefront in ensuring that country is safe for all to live in, promising to strengthen the partnership in order to further make the country a better place for all to live.

Responding, Brig.-Gen. U.V Unachukwu promised the Division’s support to the Zonal Centre so as to achieve its mandate while recalling the pass records of the Zonal Director as a result-oriented senior officer.

He also commended the Centre for working hand in hand with all the security agencies, traditional rulers and key stakeholders, adding that this would go a long way in mopping up and tackling the proliferation of illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons in the country.

The management of Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma has responded to a recent publication by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), AAU Chapter, alleging that the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sunday Olowo Samuel, claimed to have cleared all staff arrears.

A statement issued by Otunba Mike Aladenika, Principal Assistant Registrar and Head of Information, Protocol, and Public Relations, described the claim by ASUU as far from the truth.

Aladenika said the Acting Vice-Chancellor’s 31-paragraph address to journalists did not state that all outstanding salary arrears had been paid.

He noted that instead, the VC emphasized the administration’s commitment to gradual liquidation of these arrears.

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According to the imagemaker of the university, the Vice-Chancellor, in his speech, rather highlighted prompt payment of salaries and pensions as a hallmark of his administration, and noted that the university had implemented the new minimum wage of N70,000 as soon as it was approved.

Aladenika questioned where ASUU got their information from, given the Acting Vice-Chancellor’s clear statements.

“It’s worth noting that when the current administration took over, ASUU members were owed over 35 months in arrears.

“However, the debt has since been reduced as those owed 35 months and above were paid 10 months emblock in the 1st tranch, while in the 2nd tranch, those owe 20-months and above were also paid 10 months salary arrears, emblock. Apart from individuals among them who got paid on personal requests, the payment of the backlogs is still ongoing as various applications on salary arrears are been attended to, demonstrating the management’s commitment to gradual payment.

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“On the issue of the 13th month salary, it’s essential to clarify that this has never been a right, but rather a subject of tripartite negotiations between workers, management, and the state government. There has been no prior agreement or understanding on this matter, and it has always been a point of negotiation for our unions.

“It’s worth noting that the university has never paid 13 months’ salary in a 12-month financial year. However, this doesn’t mean that the management is opposed to negotiations on the matter. Rather, we believe that it’s essential to approach such discussions in a constructive manner, rather than using it as a bargaining chip for blackmail.

“The management is open to negotiations, but we urge all parties to engage in good faith and avoid misrepresentations.”

The air inside the hall was thick with expectation. Learned silks in flowing robes, young wigs eager to impress, and the weight of tradition hung over the Nigerian Bar Association’s 2025 Conference. It was meant to be another gathering where speeches would be given, pleasantries exchanged, and resolutions filed away into dusty archives. But then, like a stone thrown into a still pond, Oby Ezekwesili rose, and the hall shifted.

Her words did not flatter. They struck with the urgency of a fire alarm in the middle of the night. She asked the lawyers, the guardians of the nation’s constitution, to look into the mirror. Not to admire the silk of their gowns or the polish of their titles, but to examine the log in their own eyes. For too long, she said, they had been arbiters who excused their own failings while pointing at the speck in others.

It was not a comfortable charge. Lawyers shifted in their seats. Some frowned. Some applauded. But the truth was laid bare: the Nigerian legal profession, once the conscience of society, has too often dropped the ball.

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Think of the 2023 elections, where brazen infractions were documented, yet the courts delivered rulings that raised more questions than answers. Or the endless adjournments that have turned justice into a waiting game, eroding faith in the very system lawyers swore to uphold. Think of the silence of many senior advocates when judicial corruption is whispered about, as though the temple of justice can stand while its pillars are rotting.

Ezekwesili’s charge was not merely to critique. It was a trumpet call. She asked them to confront the truth that Nigeria is where it is today because those who should have drawn the lines of accountability too often chose convenience over courage. Lawyers were once in the vanguard of change: the Gani Fawehinmis, the Alao-Aka-Bashors, the Akinola Agudases. Their names are etched in our collective memory because they fought when it was costly. But where is that spirit now?

The metaphor of the mirror is haunting. For what is a mirror if not a silent witness? It does not flatter or deceive. It simply reflects. The Nigerian Bar Association cannot continue as though it is an observer of the nation’s decline; it must admit that its silence, its compromises, its complicity have helped fertilize the soil of Nigeria’s failures.

And yet, in Ezekwesili’s provocation lies a possibility. To look into the mirror is not merely to mourn, but to begin again. To reclaim the nobility of the law not as a profession of prestige, but as a calling of service. To recover the conscience that once made lawyers the voice of the voiceless.

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This is not about throwing stones at others. It is about removing the log in one’s own eye. For until the Bar confronts itself, it cannot hope to help Nigeria see clearly.

The question then lingers beyond the echoes of that hall: when next the mirror is held up, will the Nigerian Bar Association be able to stand and say, “We did not look away”?