The missing police guns

LAST week, the House of Representatives commenced investigations into the alleged disappearance of about 178,459 arms and ammunition belonging to the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), calling on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to urgently apprehend those behind the depletion of the force’s armoury. The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by the House’s Deputy Minority Leader, Honourable Toby Okechukwu. Previously, in a correspondence signed by the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF), Adolphus Aghughu, and addressed to the Clerk of the National Assembly, details had been given on the different categories of arms and ammunition in question. The AuGF’s audit of the Arms Movement Register, Monthly Returns of Arms and Ammunition, and Ammunition Register at the Armoury Section of the Nigeria Police revealed that the number of lost firearms by December 2018 stood at 178,459. Worse still, there was no trace or formal report on their whereabouts.

The details of the missing arms were contained in pages 383-391 of the AuGF’s annual report on “non-compliance/internal control weaknesses in Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the year ended 31st December 2019.” The report indicated that 88,078 AK-47 rifles, 3,907 assorted rifles and pistols from different formations nationwide could not be accounted for as of January 2020. It further queried the police headquarters’ failure to provide comprehensive details about unserviceable weapons even when such arms could fall into some authorised hands. According to the report, this contravenes paragraph 2603 of the Financial Regulations document of the government which stipulates that “in the event of any loss of stores, the officer in charge of the store in which the loss occurs shall report immediately to the head of department or unit but not later than three (3) days, by the fastest means possible if the loss occurs away from headquarters.”

Said the AuGF: “Formal report on the loss of firearms through duly completed Treasury Form 146 (loss of stores) were not presented for examination. Records obtained from force armament at the Force Headquarters showed that the 21 Police Mobile Force (PMF) Squadron, Abuja, did not report a single case of missing firearm, whereas the schedule of missing arms obtained from the same PMF showed a total of 46 missing arms between 2000 and February 2019. The value of the lost firearms could not be ascertained because no document relating to their cost of acquisition was presented for examination. The above anomalies could be attributed to weaknesses in the internal control system at the Nigeria Police Force Armament. Several numbers of firearms from the review of Arm Issue Register, monthly returns of arms and ammunition obtained from the Force Armament, Force Headquarters for various state commands, formations, zonal offices, training institutions, squadrons and physical inspection of firearms and ammunition at the force headquarters have become unserviceable and dysfunctional.”

The report had further indicated that the records of the total number of unserviceable firearms were not produced for examination, that there were no returns from Adamawa State Command, Police Mobile Force (PMF) 46, 56,64 and 68 for the period under review, and that returns were not submitted by some police training institutions and some formations. Besides, physical verification of firearms and ammunition at the Force Armament, Force Headquarters, showed large quantities of damaged and obsolete firearms which needed to be destroyed.

The AuGF also queried the police hierarchy for expending the sum of N3,271,439,688:30 on the award of contracts above approval threshold and without evidence of project execution, and for paying the sum of N924.985 million for 11 contracts involving construction of three units of gunshot spotter system, supply of 50 units of ballistic roller trolley and 20 units of ballistic mobile surveillance house in some selected commands and formations without evidence of project execution. The AuGF then asked the Inspector-General of Police to provide details of the expenditure to the Public Accounts Committees (PAC) of both the Senate and House of Representatives, and account for the funds and other irregularities.

To say the least, it is troubling that hundreds of thousands of arms and ammunition are missing in a country consistently ranked high on the Global Terrorism Index. If the report by the AuGF reveals anything, it is the mystery, underlined by corruption, in which police operations are shrouded. In a serious clime, by now the IGP would have been facing serious crisis, if only because of the vast implications of arms in the hands of outlaws. If arms of the magnitude detailed by the AuGF’s report are missing without any form of official queries, then it can only mean that those in charge of these arms do not expect to face any consequences for their gross dereliction of duty. If that is the case, then, Nigeria lacks a police force that is fit for purpose.

We welcome the ongoing investigations by the House of Reps. It is an intervention dictated by the perilous circumstances in which the country is and we urge the panel to do a thorough job. In a very significant sense, the job has been made easier by the clarity and depth of the AuGF’s report and all that the panel has to do is to seek answers to the sobering questions raised therein and ensure that the country gets value for its money. On their part, the police authorities need to come clean on the matter. They should give Nigerians a clearer picture of what actually happened. With killings, rape, abductions and arson reported across the country almost on a daily basis, it is clear that weapons are in the dangerous hands. Worse still, arms are being brought into the country illegally on a consistent basis. The situation has to change.