The House of Representatives, on Thursday, resolved to launch an investigation into the case of 178,459 pieces of firearms allegedly missing from the armoury of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
This follows the adoption of a motion by the deputy minority leader, Toby Okechukwu, on the “need to investigate alleged missing firearms and ammunition of the Nigeria Police.”
In his debate, Okechukwu informed the House that the 2019 audit report of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, as reported by national dailies, revealed that different arms and ammunition, controlled by the police are allegedly missing.
According to him, “the audit of Arms Movement Register, Monthly Returns of Arms and Ammunition and Ammunition Register at the Armoury Section reveals that a total number of lost firearms as at December 2018 stood at 178,459 pieces.
“Out of this number, 88,078 were AK-47 rifles, 3,907 assorted rifles and pistols across different police formations, which could not be accounted for as at January 2020.”
He noted that the value of the allegedly missing guns could not be verified, as documents correlating the cost of the acquisition were not presented for examination.`
Following the motion, the House resolved to set up an ad-hoc committee that would oversee the investigation.
The panel is also expected to establish the integrity of the allegations and conduct due diligence of the control processes of the armoury of the police.
The House further charged the Inspector General of Police ( IGP), Usman Baba Alkali, to take immediate actions to apprehend those responsible.
