The Nigeria Police Force says recent reports on allegation of missing 178,549 firearms from the force is misleading and inaccurate.
This is contained in a statement on Thursday in Abuja by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
Adejobi said that the clarification followed reports in some sections of the media alleging that firearms, comprising 3,907 AK-47 arms were missing from the Nigeria Police Force armories.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the reports in some sections of the media, followed queries by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts while adopting Auditor General Report 2019.
“As of December 2018, a total of 178,459 firearms were unaccounted for, including 88,078 AK-47 rifles. Additionally, as of January 2020, at least 3,907 assorted rifles and pistols remained missing,” the report stated.
An audit of police records further revealed that, out of the 3,907 firearms listed as missing, only 15 cases involved officers who died or sustained injuries while losing their weapons.
The FPRO said that the allegation appeared to stem from an assessment of the report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) dating back to 2019.
He explained that the report was likely reflecting records compiled, prior to the administration of the current Inspector-General of Police (I-G), Mr Olukayode Egbetokun.
”In the report, according to Issue 3b, Sub (iii), it is stated that 3,907 arms were unaccounted for and not ‘missing’ as speculated by the news.
”It is important to acknowledge the challenges faced by the police during periods of civil unrest, when several Police Officers are killed and their arms carted away.
”It is also, important to note that some attacks and looting of police facilities and armories had resulted to loss of arms.
”However, every effort has been made to account for the arms that were taken, with many recovered back to the arms holding of the force at the moment,” he said.
Adejobi also noted that when auditors conduct visits to police armories, it was difficult to find all arms present due to the issuance of weapons to personnel for operational purposes.
He said many of the arms issued for operational purposes could span months depending on the nature of the operations.
The police spokesman said this could lead to misconceptions regarding the accuracy of audit reports.
He added that the force had a statutory and annual internal auditing process in accordance with the provisions outlined in the Police Regulations, administrative instructions and standard operating procedures (SOP).
He explained that stringent measures to ensure controlled movement and proper accountability of arms were part of the internal auditing process.
”Throughout our audits, there has been no outrageous record of unaccounted or missing arms, as speculated in the 2019 report of the AuGF, in spite of some incidences that have been documented and managed.
”The force has earlier defended the audit queries, with the hope that it help in reconciling the discrepancies in the reports.
”However, the hearing session presided over by the Senate Committee on Public Account has been postponed to Feb. 17 to give ample time for a proper cross analysis of records,” he said.
