National Coordinator, Centre for Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, (NCSALW), Maj-Gen. Abba Dikko (rtd), has said that 12,400 different calibre of weapons have been retrieved from the theatres of operation in the country.
Unveiling the arms, yesterday, in Maiduguri, Borno State, he noted: “This is my first working visit to Borno to brief Governor Babagana Zulum on the objectives of the Centre.”
On the objective of the Centre, he said: “We are working closely with the Nigerian police and other security agencies to remove illicit weapons from circulation,” adding that the retrieval exercise was to break supply chains to ensure that violence is reduced to the barest level.
“We have retrieved not less than 10,000 small arms, so far from the Police and other theaters of war.”
He noted that from the police alone, about 4,000 arms and weapons were recovered from other theatres, bringing the total to about 6,000.
“The Centre will commence profiling of the recovered arms and equally begin the litigation of gun-runners and others, who engaged in the illicit act. It will also identify and mainstream suspects with skills in fabricating local weapons for the military industrial complex,” he said.
This, he noted, will make Nigeria self-reliant in the manufacture of weapons for troops on the frontlines of Sambisa Forest and the Lake Chad region in North East.
