Inspector general of police directs all owners of firearms to register their weapons by July

INSPECTOR general of police Solomon Arase has urged all persons in possession of non-prohibited firearms to immediately obtain or renew their licences before July as part of a bid to combat the proliferation of weapons across the country.

 

Over recent months, Nigeria has been awash with illegal firearms, leading to countless numbers of bloody clashes across the country. Most scary is the way Fulani cattle herdsmen go around heavily armed with AK47 assault rifles, which they are never reluctant to use whenever they have altercations with local communities.

 

As part of initiatives aimed at ensuring adequate protection of lives and property Mr Arase has urged all arms bearers to obtain licences by following the process on the requisite web link of the Nigeria Police Central Information Centre at www.npf.gov.ng.  He has also directed all commissioners of police in state commands and the Federal Capital Territory to activate the mechanism for the mop-up of prohibited firearms within their areas of responsibility.

 

Police spokesman Olabisi Kolawole, noted that prohibited weapons under the Firearms Act include artillery, apparatus for the discharge of any explosives or gas-diffusing projectile, revolvers and pistols, machine guns and machine pistols, rocket weapons and military rifles including those with calibre 7.62mm, 9mm, .300 inches and .303inches. He emphasised that the intelligence and operational assets of the force will soon be deployed to fish out, arrest and bring to justice any person who fails to voluntarily surrender prohibited firearms in his or her possession or who fails to obtain or renew requisite licences for non-prohibited firearms.

 

Mr Kolawole noted that such modalities shall include a reward system for informants whose information shall lead to the location and recovery of such weapons and arrest of the person in whose custody such illegal firearms are recovered. He added that Mr Arase called on all citizens to sustain their cooperation with the Nigeria Police Force in the task of keeping the country safe while assuring that the force will continue to diligently work towards eliminating any threat to internal security.