Reps Will Look Into The Disappearance Of 178,459 Police Weapons

Reps Will Look Into The Disappearance Of 178,459 Police Weapons

According to the 2019 report of the Auditor General for the Federation, the House of Representatives has decided to investigate the alleged missing 178,459 rifles and ammunition of the Nigeria Police Force.

The decision was made after the deputy minority leader, Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu), proposed a resolution on topics of urgent public significance, which was approved by the plenary on Thursday, January 20.

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According to Okechukwu’s presentation, the Armoury Section’s audit of the Arms Movement Register, Monthly Returns of Arms and Ammunition, and Ammunition Register revealed that the total number of missing firearms as of December 2018 was 178,459 pieces.

The lawmaker said;

“Of this total, 88,078 AK-47 firearms and 3,907 miscellaneous rifles and pistols from various police formations remained unaccounted for as of January 2020.”

“As a result of non-compliance with the Nigeria Police Force’s internal control system, the police high command failed to keep a record of unserviceable and expired firearms and ammunition,” according to the report.

“There were no returns from Adamawa State Command, Police Mobile Force (PMF) 46, 56, 64, and 68 for the period under review, and records of the total number of unserviceable guns were not produced for examinations.”

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The Inspector-General of Police was also instructed by a member of the House of Representatives to take immediate action to apprehend individuals responsible for the depletion of the Nigeria Police Force’s armory

The House committee on police matters was also given four weeks to investigate and report back to the House.