President Goodluck Jonathan, while attending the summit of Group of 8 and Group of 20 Industrialised Nations in Canada, has declared the dumping of small arms and light weapons on Africa by western countries as a major factor retarding the continent’s quest for economic advancement.

At an interview session with Nigerian journalists covering the summit, the President pointed out that the presence of these weapons have fueled violent crimes, instability and the inability of the continent to keep the peace that will engender overall development of the continent.

He said although Nigeria was at the Summit to speak more on child and maternal health, “I believe that the excessive dumping of small arms and light weapons on Africa is one of the major factors that retards the economic growth of the continent. For any country or society to develop the economic activities must be at the peak.

“Take some parts of Nigeria for example, particularly in the South South and South East, where there is excessive and free use of small arms and light weapons, a city as important as Aba was almost closed down for weeks without economic activities that stimulate wealth creation,” he said.

Jonathan lamented that the developed nations that manufacture the small arms and weapons are able to control their citizens on the use of them with superior technology, whereas African countries where they are dumped cannot do the same.

“That is why you see a lot of military organisations struggling to topple governments in Africa. Where the governments are relatively stable, they use them for criminal activities like piracy, trans-border crimes, armed robbery, and causing general insecurity, and even kidnapping.

“This, especially in the South East of Nigeria where we have ‘commercial kidnapping’ as people kidnap for ransom. If these things are allowed to continue, then of course, economic development of the African continent will continue to recede instead of advancing,” Jonathan stated.

“I remember when we were undergraduates, we used to read some of the literature written by people like Walter Rodney and others on how Europe underdeveloped Africa through slavery and the rest. Now slavery is history in this present millennium, and the use of these small arms and light weapons is becoming the major factor facing economic growth in Africa,” the President added.

He further said that he has directed the Ministry of Defence to cease the purchase of defective and substandard weaponry for peacekeeping missions so that Nigeria could get the appropriate reimbursements from the United Nations without hassles.

“I have admonished the Minister of Defence to be very careful with their procurement. They already have some requests now but for every procurement we will do now, we must get value for money.

“We must get the kind of equipment that we can get refund very quickly from the UN. We will no longer encourage the procurement of substandard equipment. If you procure equipment not up to standard you will not get reimbursement. That has been the mistake made in some time past,” he explained.

Jonathan also told world leaders at the G8 Summit in Canada that Nigeria deserves a seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council because the country has been involved in solving virtually all of the problems across Africa, and in any case, needs to be given a sense of belonging.

At a world press conference in Toronto on Friday, Jonathan said it is not fair to use technological advancement as the major yardstick for membership of the UN council, which security interventions have anyway been mostly in Africa.

According to the President, “Africa occupies a major part of the globe and we must be given that sense of belonging if we are all people with some common destiny.

“I am not saying that Nigeria, in terms of technological advancement, should join using that as a yardstick. What I am saying is that looking at what is happening now, it is not fair to use only technological advancement to dictate which country sits on the Security Council.

“Where are we getting the crises and why should there be a Security Council? Most of our problems are coming from the developing countries. Most of the interventions the UN handles are in Africa and there is no problem in Africa that Nigeria is not involved in solving.”

He rationalised the invitation of Nigeria and a few other African countries to the G8 and G20 summit as an indication that leaders of the developed nations have come to realise the need to encourage African countries for the large markets they provide.

His words: “They have realised that the continent of Africa must be encouraged. For the developed side to develop, they need the developing countries because of the trade links. If you manufacture and there is nobody to buy, of course you cannot stand.

“Nigeria, with 150 million people, is one of the biggest markets globally and for economic reasons we need to be encouraged. Anywhere leaders of nations are interacting it is just like business transaction and there is no forum that you cannot use for this.

“The G8 is made up of powerful countries and with the invitation extended to some African countries, it is a good platform to address some of the issues that affect Africa and the rest of the world”.

Making a case for trade liberalisation, Jonathan argued that “yes, we are asking for assistance in terms of grants and other unconditional loans but the basic thing is to encourage African countries to export their primary produce.

“Presently, the laws governing international trade do not favour us and as long as we are not encouraged to export our produce, we will continue to be begging and we should not be begging.

“Because of the high level of technology, they come up with policies to discriminate produce from African countries and if those discriminatory policies continue, then it will really affect us economically. These are the issues that the developed countries have to re-examine. Do we just continue giving alms to Africa or encourage them to create wealth?”