The National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) has said it would destroy over 3,000 recovered illicit small arms and light weapons and associated materials.
NCCSALW’s National Coordinator, Major Gen. Abba Muhammed Dikko (retd), told journalists at a press briefing in Kaduna yesterday that the seizures were made majorly from the North West, South South, South East and North Central regions of the country within the past 18 months.
TheFact Daily reports the arms were handed down to the Centre from security agencies who are currently on the ongoing theatre of operation, in furtherance of President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to tame the insecurity in the country.
“The seizures were from various theatres of ongoing operations. We will continue to destroy them. We have had collections from the North West, South South, North Central and South East. In terms of categorisation, small arms are categorised by the ammunition they can fire – from 9 mm to 100 mm in calibre. The key thing is for us to be able to mop up those weapons that are capable of destruction from non-state actors”, he said.
Some of the weapons he disclosed, which are to be destroyed today, Thursday, 24 November, include AK47, AK49 and AA guns, as well as dane guns, with intent to remove not only the weapon, but the ammunition brought illegally into the country by bandits and terrorists.
“We don’t go to pick these illicit arms from criminals; it is what the security agencies have been able to recover that we collect. Some of them were actually seized while some were voluntarily surrendered because there is still ongoing voluntary submission which we have been following.
“I’ve not mentioned northeast because there is ongoing mass surrender of weapons. Borno state government is also working in that process and Nigerians will be updated at the right time,” Dikko said.
