The National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, NCCSALW, has disclosed that its operatives have recovered over 10,000 small and light weapons from non-state actors.
National Coordinator of the Centre, Maj. Gen. Abba Dikko (rtd), disclosed this in an interview with newsmen during a working visit to Borno State on Wednesday.
The Coordinator said the arms were mopped up by security agencies across the country and handed over to the centre, which has the mandate of retrieving and destroying such arms.
“Even before the establishment of the centre, there has been mop up activities by security agencies in the various theatres, particularly the police, which has taken the lead in retrieving weapons from unauthorized persons”, he said.
According to Dikko, the arms were retrieved from communities, insurgents, bandits and other non-state actors whose major target was to continue to fuel criminalities and insecurity across the country.
“This is not just targeted at ensuring peaceful elections, but also ensuring that violence and criminality are reduced to the barest minimum across the Nigerian state”, he added.
Maj. Gen. Dikko further assured Nigerians that the centre is working hard to break the supply chain and curbing those identified as gun runners who have decided to use the Nigerian space as their preferred market.