Navy Destroys 2,829 Firearms Recovered from Ondo Militants, Others

The Nigerian Navy on Thursday commenced the manual destruction of 2,829 firearms recovered from the Ondo State Amnesty Programme as well as some unserviceable weapons belonging to the force.

While 2,281 firearms were recovered from repentant militants in Ondo State last year, 475 others were service rifles of the navy which were no longer useable.

The exercise which was organised by the Naval Ordinance Depot (NOD) in Ojo, Lagos, following an approval by the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, was the first since the depot establishment in 1966.

According to the Admiral Superintendent of NOD, Rear Admiral Abdul Adamu, the weapons comprised 2,108 single barrel rifles; 57 units of double barrel rifles; 189 short guns; 187 FN (Fabrique Nationale) rifles; 215 SIG (Schweitzerische Industrie-Gasellschaft) rifles and 73SMGs (Sub Machine Guns).

According to him, "The depot was established in 1966 as a strategic naval establishment primarily responsible for the storage and issuance of arms and ammunition to the naval fleet and establishments.

"Its overtime roles expanded to include installation, servicing and on demand maintenance of arms onboard the navy ships. The depot also caters for sister services in storing their ordinances from time to time.

"The naval headquarters recently authorised the depot to destroy the unserviceable weapons which comprised weapons seized from repentant militants by the Ondo State Amnesty Programme and unserviceable naval weapons.

“These consist of 2,108 single barrel rifles; 57 units of double barrel rifles; 189 short guns; 187 FN rifles; 215 SIG rifles and 73 SMGs which are earmarked for destruction during this exercise.

"It is also significant to state that the exercise would be conducted for two days to ensure that the weapons are rendered unusable. This would involve cutting of the barrels into tiny unusable pieces and finally burying the pieces of the weapons in a dug hole at the depot.

"It is believed that this approach will permanently deny criminals and miscreants access to the seized weapons which could pose security threats to the society.

"Solving the problem of firearms proliferation is not for security agencies alone. These criminals are subset of the society. Thankfully, the president has signed into a law a bill that prohibits bearing of arms. The police are doing well on arresting and parading the local manufacturers as we usually see in the media.

"What the navy has done with this exercise is another great step to stop the weapons from finding their way back into the society. So, I recommend that sister security services with such arms in their amouries or inventory should destroy them so that bad eggs within the system do not recycle these firearms back into the society and in the hands of these criminals.”

The CNS who was represented by Director of Arms Naval Headquarters, Rear Admiral Danjuma Dongoyaru, decried the proliferation of firearms, noting that the destruction was part of measures to curb it.

Acknowledging that there were other uses the metals could be put to, he said the navy didn't want to take chances that could make the weapons land in the hands of criminals again.