The Nigeria Police Force has denied reports that thousands of firearms were missing from its armoury as “misleading and inaccurate.”
This follows a meeting between the Nigerian Senate Committee on Public Accounts and senior police officials on Tuesday amid growing concern over frequent attacks by armed groups in the country.
Local media reported that the meeting centred on issue of 178,459 firearms allegedly missing, including 88,078 AK-47 rifles, from police inventory, first published by the Auditor General of the Federation in 2019.
After reports of Tuesday's appearance of Nigerian police chief, Kayode Egbetokun, before the senate committee, the police force issued a clarification in a statement.
“No outrageous number of firearms is missing in the armouries of the NPF within the stated period,'' police spokesperson Olumiyiwa Adejobi said in the statement on Thursday.
''It is important to acknowledge the challenges faced by the police during periods of civil unrest, during which several Police Officers were killed and their arms carted away, and some attacks and looting of police facilities and armories, resulting in the loss of arms,'' Adejobi said.
Security challenges
''However, every effort has been made to account for the arms that were taken, while many have been recovered back to the arms holding of the force at the moment,'' he added.
The hearing session presided over by the Senate Committee on Public Account has been postponed to Monday, 17th of February 2025, giving ample time for a proper cross-analysis of records, according to the police.
Nigeria has been grappling with insecurity in recent years, with terrorist groups, armed robbers, and kidnapping gangs carrying out deadly attacks.
Experts and the authorities often express concern over the proliferation of arms in the hands of non-state actors, saying this is partly responsible for the security challenges.
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