The Nigeria Police Force has remitted over 11,000 recovered arms to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, NCCSALW, for destruction.
The Centre’s Director-General, DIG Johnson Babatunde Kokumo (rtd), disclosed this on Wednesday.
Kokumo made the disclosure when he paid a courtesy visit to the Niger State Commissioner of Police, CP Adamu Abdullahi Elleman, at the Command Headquarters in Minna.
The NCCSALW boss said the transfer and destruction of recovered weapons was aimed at preventing their possible recirculation into the hands of criminal elements, particularly as illicit small arms and light weapons continue to fuel banditry and other violent crimes.
He commended the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, for directing state police commands to transfer recovered arms and ammunition to the Centre after investigations and other necessary procedures.
Kokumo called for stronger collaboration and information sharing between the Niger Police Command and the Centre, stressing that effective inter-agency cooperation remained critical to tackling the proliferation of illicit weapons.
He said the Federal Government established NCCSALW to coordinate efforts against illicit small arms and light weapons, with zonal structures across the six geopolitical zones and plans for state-level offices to strengthen its operations nationwide.
The Director-General, who was accompanied by the Centre’s North-Central Zonal Director, Abdullahi Adamu Eneche, also commended the existing relationship between the Niger Police Command and the Centre.
Kokumo described his meeting with CP Elleman as both official and symbolic, recalling their professional relationship while in active service.
Responding, CP Elleman described Kokumo as a distinguished retired senior police officer, mentor and seasoned professional, and assured him of the command’s continued support for NCCSALW.
He pledged that arms and ammunition recovered by the Niger State Police Command would be remitted to the Centre through the appropriate channels after investigations and other required procedures are concluded.
The CP said the move was in line with existing directives and would help ensure that recovered weapons were taken out of circulation rather than potentially finding their way back into criminal hands.
The meeting comes as security agencies continue efforts to curb the proliferation of illicit weapons, which remains a major concern in the fight against banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes in the North-Central.
Insecurity: 11,000 arms recovered by police submitted for destruction