A Bill that will prohibit the manufacture, production and distribution of chemical weapons in Nigeria has passed the crucial second reading on the floor of the Senate.
Deliberations on the Bill on Wednesday started after Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba told the Senators that when made law, the use of harmful chemical weapons that could cause death within Nigeria would be it eradicated.
Senator Ndoma-Egba, in the lead debate, said: “The Bill seeks to establish a body that would serve as the national focal point for effective liaison with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons”.
He said the Bill would empower the proposed body to liaise with other State Parties to the Convention and to ensure that Nigeria fulfilled her obligations under the Convention.
“The proposed law will facilitate the destruction of chemical weapons production facilities and monitor the conversion of such facilities to other uses,” he said.
Contributing to the debate, Senator Smart Adeyemi urged Federal lawmakers to give accelerated passage to the bill, considering the current security challenge facing the country.
After an attack on a community in Benue State in March by suspected Fulani herdsmen, there were reports of alleged use of chemical weapon by the herdsmen, as one of the survivors and a Vigilante Chief, Emmanuel Ifam and the Commissioner of Police, Adams Audu, gave accounts of the suffocating effect of the alleged chemical weapon.
The Benue State Government had ordered an autopsy on the corpses recovered from invaded villages for verification of the allegation.
The Senate is looking to forestall a repeat of such attack with the chemical weapon.