PHOTOS: FG destroys recovered weapons, vows to track traffickers

The Nigerian Federal Government has taken a significant step in combating insecurity by destroying 2,819 illicit and decommissioned small arms and light weapons in Abuja. This exercise brings the total number of illegal weapons permanently removed from circulation to around 19,000 since the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) was established.

Retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police Johnson Kokumo, Director-General of the NCCSALW, described the destruction as a "deliberate, verifiable and irreversible act of national security." He stressed that each weapon destroyed represents a threat neutralized against communities, markets, travelers, criminals, and terrorist enterprises. The NCCSALW has recovered over 21,000 weapons, with more than 16,000 destroyed prior to this latest exercise.

“

We are gathered here today to witness the destruction, by burning and subsequent smelting, of approximately 2,819 small arms and light weapons. These are weapons that were illicitly acquired, or have since been decommissioned and rendered unserviceable, and which now stand permanently removed from circulation in our society.

Kokumo identified the proliferation of illicit small arms as a major driver of insecurity in Nigeria, fueling banditry, kidnapping, communal clashes, farmer-herder conflicts, and armed robbery. The arms destruction program complements the government's wider security strategy, which includes military operations, law enforcement, intelligence gathering, border security, community policing, and socio-economic interventions. The Nigeria Police Force was acknowledged for supplying the largest number of recovered weapons, contributing 11,907 firearms and locally fabricated weapons seized during operations nationwide. The NCCSALW also commended other security agencies for their cooperation in releasing recovered weapons for destruction.

“

Every weapon that goes into these flames today is a weapon that can never again be used to threaten a community, disrupt a market, waylay a traveller, or arm a criminal or terrorist enterprise.