The Nigerian federal government through the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, NCCSALW, has said it will increase the intensity of mopping up illicit small arms and light weapons across the country, ahead of the 2023 general elections.
This was as the center hinted that it had recovered and destroyed more than 3,000 illegal arms in Nigeria.
The South West coordinator of the NCCSALW, Ben Sola Akinlade, disclosed this in Abeokuta on Friday, saying the arms were recovered from terrorists, bandits, and armed robbers through the help of security agencies.
The NCCSALW had been established by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2021, to tackle the proliferation of illegal arms by mopping up illegal small arms and light weapons in Nigeria.
Additionally, Akinlade said that the center would be collaborating with security agencies, to monitor the activities of politicians before, during, and after the general elections.
Akinlade had also blamed the influx of small arms on the country’s porous borders while reassuring Nigerians that the center was destroying recovered illegal arms to prevent them from getting into the wrong hands.
He then urged Nigerian citizens to be vigilant in the wake of political campaigns and rallies.
