Mine ban policy overview

The Federal Republic of Nigeria acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 27 September 2001, and the treaty entered into force on 1 March 2002.

Nigeria has stated since 2004 that it is in the process of enacting national legislation to implement the treaty. In its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report submitted in 2012, Nigeria again stated, “Domestication of MBT [Mine Ban Treaty] is in progress,” as it had also noted in its 2010 and 2009 reports.[1]

The exact status of national legislation is not known. In September 2013, the Monitor was informed that a committee on international humanitarian law was currently considering the status of international instruments that Nigeria is party to or has yet to join. While consultations were ongoing, the implementing legislation for the Mine Ban Treaty had not yet been sent by the committee to parliament.[2]In 2006, Nigeria reported that an implementation bill was undergoing its first reading in the National Assembly.[3]

Nigeria last submitted an Article 7 report in 2012, for the period from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011.[4]As of 4 October 2013, it had yet to submit its Article 7 report for 2012 which was due on 30 April 2013.

Nigeria attended the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in December 2012. It did not attend the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2013.

Nigeria has signed, but not ratified, the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and use

Nigeria is not known to have ever produced or exported antipersonnel mines. In 2009 and 2010, Nigeria reported the past production of what it described as “conventional AP [antipersonnel] landmines” that was victim-activated and attached a photograph of what it said was a “Biafran fabricated landmine (OGBUNIGWE) used as Anti-Personnel landmines during the Nigerian Civil War 1967–70.”[5]

In the past, Nigeria has stated that it has not acquired or used antipersonnel mines since the 1967–1970 Biafra Civil War. Nigeria has denied allegations that its Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) troops used mines in the 1990s in Liberia and Sierra Leone.[6]

In February 2001, the Chief of Operations of the Nigerian Army reported to the Monitor that Nigeria had destroyed its antipersonnel mines remaining after the war, and had retained none for training or development purposes.[7] In May 2002, however, Nigeria presented photographs to the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction showing that antipersonnel mines were among munitions involved in a January 2002 fire and explosion at the Ammunition Transit Depot in Ikeja Cantoment, Lagos.[8]

 In its initial Article 7 report in 2004, Nigeria declared a stockpile of 3,364 so-called ‘Dimbat’ mines for research and training.[9] In 2005, Nigeria reported that all of its retained mines had been destroyed.[10] Nigeria stated in 2007, “With the completion of these destruction exercises, we are able to report that there are no more anti-personnel mines on Nigeria soil.”[11] However, in 2009, Nigeria reported 3,364 “British made AP mines” as retained for training and also stated that it had destroyed 9,786 stockpiled “British made AP landmines” in 2005.[12] In 2010 and again in 2012, Nigeria continued to list retaining 3,364 “British and Czechoslovakian made AP Landmine[s]” but did not specify the types.[13]

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Federal Republic of Nigeria signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 12 June 2009.

In September 2013, Nigeria’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva informed States Parties that the “Government of Nigeria is taking every necessary step to expedite ratification of this convention.”[1] Since 2010, Nigerian officials have said that ratification is ongoing, but as of June 2014 the process had not yet advanced to the National Assembly.[2] Previously, in September 2012, Nigeria said “urgent consultations with relevant stakeholders” were being undertaken “in order to expedite ratification of the convention in the nearest future.”[3]

Nigeria participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and joined in the consensus adoption of the convention text in Dublin in May 2008, but it attended the signing conference in Oslo in December 2008 as an observer only and said that signing would not be possible until internal processes had been completed.[4] Nigeria subsequently signed the convention at the UN in New York in June 2009.

Despite not ratifying, Nigeria has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Fourth Meeting of States Parties held in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Nigeria attended intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in 2011 and 2012, but not those held in 2013 or 2014. Nigeria participated in a regional conference on the convention in Accra, Ghana in May 2012, but did not attend a follow-up meeting held in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.

At the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in September 2013, Nigeria said that the Convention on Cluster Munitions was a result of “the recognition of unacceptably high and indiscriminate suffering these weapons have caused to civilian populations” and described the convention as “in line with our disarmament objectives and support for global efforts to prevent the grave humanitarian consequences of these and other indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction.”[5]

In an October 2013 statement on behalf of the Africa Group, Nigeria said the group remains seized with the adverse humanitarian impact caused by landmines and cluster munitions and supports the humanitarian objectives of the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions.[6]

Nigeria voted in favor of a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution in May 2014 that notes “with serious concern reports of the indiscriminate use of cluster munitions” in South Sudan and urges all parties to refrain “from similar such use in the future.”[7]

Nigeria has not yet stated its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

Nigeria is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, and transfer

Nigeria is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions, but imported them in the past.

Sierra Leone has said that Nigerian peacekeepers participating in the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) force used cluster munitions in Sierra Leone in 1997, but the use allegation was denied at the time by ECOMOG Force Commander General Victor Malu.[8] In May 2012, Sierra Leone reaffirmed the use allegations.[9]

In September 2012, Nigeria again denied the use allegation, stating:

Nigeria wishes to reiterate the inaccuracy of the statement made by the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor on its 2011 report on Nigeria, to the effect that Sierra-Leone has said that Nigerian peacekeepers under the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) used cluster munitions in Sierra-Leone in 1997. This statement is wrong and incorrect. Nigeria wishes to clarify once again, that ECOMOG is a Regional peacekeeping initiative, and not a Nigerian national body. The regional body, ECOWAS [Economic Community Of West African States], of which Nigeria is part, among others, must be given due credit for resolving the Sierra-Leonean crisis at huge cost to itself in terms of lives and treasure lost.[10]

Stockpiling

The precise status and composition of the current stockpile of cluster munitions is not known. In April 2012, a government official said Nigeria has a stockpile of BL-755 cluster bombs and the government has “directed that steps be taken to destroy excess stockpiles of these cluster bombs, while retaining the approved quantity for training purposes.”[11] In May 2012, an official described Nigeria’s preparations for its stockpile destruction as “on-going.”[12] At the Third Meeting of States Parties in September 2012, Nigeria renewed its request for technical assistance and support to destroy the stockpile of BL-755 cluster bombs.[13]

Contamination and Impact

Mines

At the Mine Ban Treaty Eleventh Meeting of States Parties in November 2011, the Federal Republic of Nigeria declared it had cleared all known mined areas from its territory.[1]

Survey by a commercial company in 2009 identified mine/explosive remnants of war contamination in 327 suspected hazardous areas across 10 states covering 150km²: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, and Rivers. The heaviest contamination was in Imo state.[2] In its Article 7 report covering 2010, Nigeria reported that landmines were located in 12 states. In addition to the 10 states above, Nigeria also reported contamination in the states of Bayelsa and Nasarawa.[3]

Cluster munition remnants and other explosive remnants of war

There is no evidence of a problem with cluster munition remnants.[4]

Land Release

Nigeria did not report the amount of area it cleared to meet its Article 5 obligations. However, they did report finding 820 antipersonnel mines, 325 antivehicle mines, and 17,519 items of unexploded ordnance.[5]

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Nigeria was required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2012. In December 2009, at the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty, Nigeria stated that, “as soon as some limited numbers of anti-personnel landmines were discovered in some parts of Nigeria, we took prompt action to identify and to destroy these mines to protect civilian lives and community livelihoods.”[6] At the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties in November 2011, Nigeria declared it had “ensured the destruction of all anti-personnel mines in areas under our jurisdiction or control in which these mines were known or suspected to be emplaced.”[7]