The Force Headquarters on Tuesday announced that the police stopped the issuance of licenses for small arms due to the high rate of illegal arms proliferation in the country.
The acting Inspector-General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun made the disclosure while responding to a question by our correspondent during his (IG’s) meeting with members of the Police Management Team including Deputy Inspectors General of Police, Assistant Inspectors General of Police, and Commissioners of Police at the Goodluck Jonathan Peacekeeping Hall, Force Headquarters, Abuja.
He said,
“We are mopping up arms in circulation. There are too many arms in circulation and if we continue to issue licenses on arms, we may continue to aggravate the problems we are trying to solve,” Egbetokun said.
However, he further noted that the police might review the ban in the future.
“For now, there is a temporary ban on the issuance of firearms. We May review it later, but we are not issuing firearms licenses nationwide now.”
It was reported that the Firearm Act has been responsible for the control of firearms in Nigeria for the past years.
The Act provides that no person shall have in his possession or under his control, any firearm or ammunition except such person has a license from the President or the Inspector General of Police.