National Centre for Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons has retrieved 20,000 weapons and 60,000 units of ammunition from illicit handlers in the last three years. 
  
The centre entrusted to check the proliferation of illegal weapons in the country also revealed that a significant percentage of weapons recovered were smuggled from Libya, Chad, and the Republic of Niger. 
  
The National Coordinator, Brig-Gen Mohammad Dikko (rtd), stated this at 3 Brigade Nigerian Army, Bukavo Barrack, Kano State, yesterday, during a stakeholders’ sensitisation against the proliferation of illegal weapons and ammunition.
  
Dikko, represented by North-west Zonal Coordinator of the centre, AVM Haruna Muhammad (rtd), lamented that the dangerous trend of infiltration of illegal weapons “is largely responsible for the increasing rate of insecurity in the country.” 
  
He disclosed that the centre, operating under the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA), said “the centre is still tracing the link of the smuggled weapons,” while appealing to Nigerians to assist the centre with useful intelligence to nip the trend in the bud. 
  
Earlier, the Assistant Director of Strategic Communications, Brig-Gen Muhammad Sani (rtd), cautioned parents to be mindful of their children’s attitudes and conscious of bad peers harbouring weapons in their vicinity. 
  
It is illegal, he maintained, for any resident to possess weapons without obtaining relevant and necessary certification from the right authorities.
Emphasising the centre’s commitment to drive home the campaign against the proliferation of illicit weapons to reduce crimes in the country, he insisted that unemployment, poverty. and drug abuse should not be enough justification to carry weapons. 
  
Participants, including members of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), had raised concernsaboutthe lack of white-collar jobs and, the level of poverty among other factors responsible for insecurity and the proliferation of illicit weapons. 
  
Retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, and district head of Albasu Local Council of Kano State, under Gaya emirate, AIG Bashir Albasu, urged the ONSA to incorporate traditional rulers in the recovery of illegal weapons. 
  
Albasu noted that traditional leaders play a critical role in intelligence gathering in their various localities; hence should not be neglected in the fight against illicit weapons in the country.