NCCSALW  raises alarm over proliferation of illegal weapons firms

Its North Central Coordinator,  Major General Hamza Bature (rtd.), made this known  at a press briefing in Minna, the zonal headquarters of the centre.

According to him,  findings by the centre recently revealed that such organisations had gone as far as deceiving innocent citizens in Kogi State with a promise to give them jobs to assist in mopping up small arms and light weapons.

“Unauthorised outfits have sprung up, deceitfully presenting themselves as the focal organisations for the control of illicit small arms and light weapons, creating false impressions of legitimacy and authority. These unauthorised bodies risk exacerbating the security issues,” he said.

Bature further expressed displeasure over the activities of such illegal organisations, adding that they would complicate the tasks of the centre to ensure Nigeria became an illicit small arms-free society, while the image of the centre was also at stake.

He maintained that the NCCSALW remained the only legitimate government body with the mandate to mop up illicit small arms and light weapons across the country.

Bature added that the centre, through collaboration with arms-bearing security agencies, relevant ministries, departments and agencies, international partners and credible civil society organisations have mopped up and destroyed over 3,000 small arms and light weapons, in Plateau State, Abuja, and other parts of the country in November 2022 and February 2023.

‘Some manufacturers of such arms were traced through intelligence and arrested”, he stressed.