The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Monday announced the names of the importers who recently shipped 399 fully assembled JOJEF pump-action rifles and other component parts into Tin-Can Island Port in Lagos.

This is even as the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons revealed that so far, 21,000 small arms and weapons have been collected from Customs since the inception of the Centre.

Disclosing this in Lagos on Monday during the handing over of the arms to the National Coordinator of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, Mr Johnson Kokumo, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, said that the importers, Robert Eze and Ejiogu Godson, were arrested while trying to clear the consignment containing the arms.

According to the Customs CG, “Look carefully at what is laid out on these tables. 399 rifles. Somebody paid for them. Somebody arranged their shipment. Somebody was waiting at this end to collect them. And somebody, somewhere in this country, was going to be on the wrong end of them. That is what we have gathered this morning to hand over to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons.

“Let me tell you how they came to be on these tables. On the 8th of July, a container arrived at Tin Can Island Port aboard the vessel MV VELIKA. It was not opened because somebody had a suspicion, or because an officer happened to be passing. It was opened because our risk management system flagged it. Inside were firearm components, taken apart and hidden in knocked-down form. That is a deliberate method. It is chosen for one reason only, which is that a rifle in pieces does not look like a rifle.

“Now consider what that quantity of weapons would have done. Our country is contending with terrorism. With banditry. With kidnapping. With violent crime that has entered too many homes in this country. And not one of those afflictions can be carried out without a weapon in somebody’s hand.

“Weapons like these are not made in Nigeria. They are made elsewhere, and they reach us through the ports, the borders and the airports that this Service is charged with guarding. We are also approaching another electioneering season, and I do not need to describe to this audience what several hundred firearms in the wrong hands would mean for the peace of our communities or for the conduct of our democracy. I will say only this: that consignment did not reach its destination, and the officers of this Service are the reason.

“That container was found because of a system, and that system exists because this administration chose to invest in it. Under the Trade Modernisation Project, we have replaced manual processes with B’Odogwu, which brings clearance, automated risk management, cargo tracking and non-intrusive inspection onto a single platform.

“The purpose of that investment was never revenue alone. We cannot open every container that enters this country, and no Customs administration anywhere in the world can. What technology gives us is the ability to know which container to open.

“But a seizure by itself proves very little, and I want to be careful about that. So let me tell you what has happened since. Two suspects, Robert Eze and Ejiogu Godson are now in custody. One of them was arrested on the 31st of July at a bonded terminal, while he was attempting to procure the release of this very container.

“Both have been remanded by the Federal High Court in Lagos, and arraignment is set for the 25th of August. And today the weapons themselves pass into the custody of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, under the Office of the National Security Adviser. Hear that sequence in full, because it is the whole point of this gathering. The weapons were intercepted. The importers were arrested. They stand before a court of law. And the arms are being surrendered to the national authority responsible for them. That is not an incident. That is a chain, and every link in it held.

“So let there be no doubt about where this Service stands. We will not allow the ports and borders of this country to be used to bring in arms, or anything else that threatens the safety of Nigerians. We will strengthen our risk systems and work shoulder to shoulder with our sister agencies to find the people who attempt this and to stop them.

“To the officers and men of the Tin Can Island Port Command, I say well done. Whoever packed this consignment took great care to hide it. It was found anyway, because our systems worked and because our officers did their duty, and I want that named in this room.”

In his own speech, the National Coordinator of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, Mr Johnson Kokumo, revealed that the Centre has received 21,000 Small Arms and Light Weapons since inception while over 19,000 small arms and light weapons have been destroyed.

In the words of Mr Johnson Kokumo, “It is with a deep sense of patriotism that we gather here today, not merely to witness the handing over of seized iliicit weapons, but to mark a decisive step in strengthening our collective security and safeguarding the peace we all cherish.

“I wish to express my profound gratitude on behalf of the National Security Adviser, management and staff of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) to the Comptroller General of Customs for his astute leadership, professionalism and patriotism often demonstrated in all operations of the Nigeria Customs that have led to the recovery of illicit weapons at different times as well as his continuous collaboraton with the NCCSALW in the fight against the proliferation of illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons in the country.

“May I, at this juncture, reiterate that illicit weapons taken out of the hands of non state actors is a direct blow to criminal networks and a vital step toward safeguarding innocent citizens. So far, over 21000 Small Arms and Light Weapons have been retrieved while over 19000 have been destroyed since the establishment of NCCSALW.

“As we receive these illicit weapons today, we do so with a solemn commitment that they shall be managed to the highest standards and will be accounted for; ensuring that they do not find their way back into the hands of criminal elements. “These weapons will be handled in strict compliance with national legislation and international best practices – induding Nigeria’s obligations under international and regional frameworks like the United Nations Programme of Action to prevent combat and eradicate the Iiicit trade in small arms and light weapons, the African Union and ECOWAS Conventions on smail arms. The NCCSALW will immediately catalogue, profile, and document every piece received here today.

“Serviceable assets required for authorized state security use will be accounted for, while obsolete, illegal, and unserviceable weapons will be destroyed.” (Nigerian Tribune)