Abuja: The Federal Government on Thursday destroyed 2,819 illicit, decommissioned, and unserviceable small arms and light weapons, reinforcing its resolve to curb the proliferation of illegal weapons that fuel insecurity across the country. The destruction was carried out by the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), bringing the cumulative number of weapons destroyed by the centre to about 19,000.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, at the event, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, represented by the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Dr. Dennis Otuaro, emphasized the government’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and national security. Ribadu highlighted that terrorism, insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, communal clashes, and other violent crimes are sustained by the widespread availability of illicit arms. He underscored the importance of not only recovering weapons but also ensuring their public, transparent, and verifiable destruction to guarantee they can never be used against any Nigerian again.
Ribadu stated that his office, with President Bola Tinubu’s support, has pursued an intelligence-led national security strategy. This strategy focuses on stronger inter-agency collaboration, disruption of criminal financing networks, enhanced border security, and renewed international partnerships, which have produced measurable gains by degrading terrorist capabilities and strengthening Nigeria’s security architecture. He urged Nigerians to support security agencies by reporting illegal possession, manufacture, trafficking, and movement of arms, and called on traditional and religious leaders to promote peace, dialogue, and voluntary disarmament within their communities.
Earlier, the Director-General of NCCSALW, retired DIG Johnson Kokumo, described the destruction exercise as a deliberate, transparent, and irreversible step toward improving national security. Kokumo explained that the destroyed weapons were either illicitly acquired or declared obsolete, decommissioned, and unserviceable. He noted that the proliferation of illicit small arms remains a major driver of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, communal clashes, and other violent crimes across Nigeria.
Kokumo revealed that more than 21,000 illicit, obsolete, and unserviceable weapons have been recovered since the centre’s establishment. Over 16,000 weapons had been destroyed before Thursday’s exercise, with the latest destruction increasing the total number permanently removed from circulation to about 19,000. He also commended the Nigeria Police Force, the Armed Forces of Nigeria, the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Customs Service, and other security agencies for supporting the recovery and release of weapons for destruction. Kokumo emphasized that the exercise sends a strong message to illicit arms traffickers that recovered weapons will be permanently destroyed rather than returned to circulation.