CENTRE Plans To Harness Talented Arms Manufacturers For SelF-Sufficiency Drive

The Director-General of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NACCSALW), DIG Johnson Kokumo (rtd), has revealed plans to harness artisanal arms producers for national development and sufficient equipment production.

He dismissed allegations in a viral video that persons arrested over the seizure of illegal arms at the Tin Can Island Port were allegedly sponsored by the national security adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.

Addressing journalists during a joint security spokespersons’ briefing, he clarified that the government was not targeting legitimate local arms manufacturers.

“From time immemorial, in villages in Nigeria, we have traditional, well-aligned rights where people even fire for joy, they use dane guns to do all this. We have local hunters who go into the bushes to hunt for rats and rabbits.

“All these guns, of course, are manufactured by local artisanal producers. But what we are seeing now is the introduction of sophisticated weapons,” he said.

He added that the government was particularly concerned about criminal manufacturers producing sophisticated illicit weapons.

“So, we have those who are criminal manufacturers of these illicit weapons, we are really out for them. And we have equally identified talents among the local manufacturers—the talents, those who are naturally talented, of course, will be absorbed into our plans, and we’ll see how they can be most efficient and most productively used in national service,” Kokumo stated.

Kokumo explained that he was personally present at the Tin Can Island Port when the Nigerian Customs Service handed over 399 assorted automatic weapons intercepted at the port to the centre.

He said, “The story in the video is not correct and cannot be correct.

“I was at the Tin Can Island Port with the Comptroller-General. 399 assorted automatic weapons were intercepted by the Nigerian Customs Service at the port. And this cache of arms, illegal weapons, handed over to the centre.

“I was not there in a representative capacity; I was there personally. And the Comptroller-General, of course, was also present personally to do the handing over,” he said.

According to him, the seized weapons are currently secured in an armoury, while two suspects arrested in connection with the illegal importation remain in custody.

“As I’m talking to you, the arms are in a secured armoury. Two suspects arrested in connection with the illegal importation are currently in custody.

“Investigation is ongoing with a view to bringing to book the criminal elements in Nigeria and possibly identifying their international criminal partners outside the shores of Nigeria,” Kokumo added.

He further maintained that the allegations contained in the viral video were baseless, noting that the video also called for violence against the NSA and other persons.

“So, what has gone viral in the video is not correct and cannot be correct,” he stated.

Kokumo also disclosed that the Federal Government had continued to destroy recovered illicit weapons to prevent them from being diverted back into the hands of criminal and non-state actors.

He said the destruction of the weapons was in line with international conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory, including agreements under the United Nations, African Union and ECOWAS.

“And of course, another reason for destroying them is to also ensure that the weapons so recovered do not find their ways back into the hands of non-state actors for use on innocent citizens of Nigeria,” he said.

The Director-General said the Second Quarter Arms Destruction Exercise for 2026, conducted on July 30 at the Muhammadu Buhari Cantonment, Giri, Abuja, resulted in the public destruction of 1,419 illicit weapons.

He said the latest exercise brought the cumulative number of illicit weapons destroyed by the centre since 2022 to more than 19,000.

Kokumo said the destruction was part of efforts by the Federal Government to prevent the possession and use of illicit weapons by non-state actors involved in terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes.

He also disclosed that the centre had received 5,050 illicit, unserviceable, decommissioned and obsolete assorted automatic weapons retrieved from the Nigeria Police Force in June 2026.

He added that 399 JOJEF automatic guns intercepted by the Nigeria Customs Service were handed over to the centre on August 17, 2026.