The federal government has said that arrangements have been concluded to destroy all seized illicit arms and ammunition from suspects and other criminals by the end of September.
It also disclosed that obsolete, decommissioned and unserviceable weapons submitted by the arms-bearing agencies would be among to ensure that they were permanently removed from circulation.
The Coordinator of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), DIG Johnson Kokumo (Rtd), who disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday during a workshop, said, “On July 1, 2024, we retrieved a substantial cache of illegal arms from the Nigeria Customs Service. Investigation led to the arrest of 10 suspects involved in this illicit importation and are currently being prosecuted by the national centre.
“In addition to the above, the national centre has retrieved a total quantity of 3,383 decommissioned, unserviceable, obsolete and illicit small arms and light weapons and 26,749 various calibres of ammunition.
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“Later in this quarter, NCCSALW would be conducting an arms destruction exercise which is a critical step in ensuring that recovered arms are permanently removed from circulation.”
The workshop, which centred on gender mainstreaming in preventing the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria and West Africa, had the representative of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, in attendance.
On his part, Ribadu noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assented to the bill establishing to curb proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.
Ribadu, who was represented by his Director, External Affairs, Ibrahim Babani, said the workshop aimed to address an issue of immense importance to Nigeria’s national security.
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