The Nigerian Navy (NN) on Thursday commenced the manual destruction of 2,829 firearms recovered from Ondo State Amnesty Programme and unserviceable weapons belonging to the service.
The Nation reports that 475 of the firearms were service rifles of the navy which were no longer useable, while 2,281 were recovered from repentant militants in Ondo State last year.
The exercise which was organised by the Naval Ordinance Depot (NOD) Ojo following approval by the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, was the first since the depot’s establishment in 1966.
According to the Admiral Superintendent NOD, Rear Admiral Abdul Adamu, the weapons comprised 2,108 single barrel rifles, 57 units of double barrel rifles, 189 short guns, 187 FN (Fabrique Nationale) rifles, 215 SIG (Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft) rifles and 73SMGs (Sub Machine Guns).
“The depot was established in 1966 as a strategic naval establishment primarily responsible for the storage and issuance of arms and ammunition to NN fleet and establishments.
“Its overtime roles expanded to include installation, servicing and on demand, maintenance of arms onboard NN ships. The depot also caters for sister services in storing their ordinances from time to time.
“The naval headquarters recently authorised the depot to destroy the unserviceable weapons which comprised weapons seized from repentant militants by the Ondo State Amnesty Programme and unserviceable NN weapons. These consist of 2,108 single barrel rifles, 57 units of double barrel rifles, 189 short guns, 187 FN rifles, 215 SIG rifles and 73 SMGs which are earmarked for destruction during this exercise.
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“It is also significant to state that the exercise will be conducted for two days to ensure that the weapons are rendered unusable. This would involve cutting of the barrels into tiny unusable pieces and finally burying the pieced weapons in a dug hole at the depot.
“It is believed that this approach will permanently deny criminals and miscreants access to the seized weapons which could pose security threats to the society.
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