The National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) has received 3,980 arms of different calibres from the police in a handover event supervised by the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba.
This was made known by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, on Thursday, February 16, 2023.
The arms handed over to the arms control Centre included 265 automatic rifles, 146 pump action guns, 1,909 locally-fabricated pistols, 1,500 locally-made single barrel guns; 98 locally-made double-barrel guns, 46 General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs), 16 locally-made rocket launchers; two locally-made Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns, and seven Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs).
Also, 2,358 assorted calibres of ammunition and 1,057 assorted cartridges were handed over to the control centre.
The IGP said that the exercise was part of the efforts of the Nigeria Police Force, as a lead agency in internal security management, to curb the threat of the proliferation of illegal small arms and light weapons (SALW) trafficking within the country.
He further stated that the Nigeria Police Force under his leadership had been evaluating and re-evaluating its operational strategies while strengthening institutional capacity in relation to the generation of actionable intelligence and the conduct of special operations directed at proactively checkmating the menace of arms proliferation.
IGP thereby directed Commissioners of Police in charge of state police commands and their supervisory Assistant Inspectors-General of Police, including Heads of Tactical Units of the Force, to aggressively sustain the mop-up exercise in order to actualize the mandate of the Federal Government on the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
The Inspector-General of Police re-affirmed the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force, assuring that the Nigeria Police Force would continue to partner with the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), as both institutions strive to achieve the mandate of the Federal Government on the control of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.
