Following a presidential directive for the establishment of National Commission on the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, the Ministry of Defence in conjunction with the Office of the National Security Adviser has set up a committee to work out modalities to transform the Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PRESCOM) to a National Commission.

Minister of Defence, Maj.-Gen. Mansur Muhammad Dan-Ali (rtd.), disclosed this at the National Security Council meeting held on Thursday.

In a statement issued in Abuja, Colonel Tukur Gusau, Public Relations Officer to the Minister, said in line with the decision of the Federal Government to increase the strength of the Armed Forces to address manpower problem, the three services have in the last two years enlisted and recruited qualified Nigerians.

“The Ministry of Defence is also building befitting accommodation for members of the Armed Forces in the six geopolitical zones.

“Similar accommodations were built by Defence Headquarters and commissioned by the HMOD in Abuja last month. This has gone a long way in solving accommodation problem and boosting the morale of personnel serving in Abuja,” the Minister said.

According to the statement, during the period under review, the Military Pension Verification Exercise was conducted in all the 36 states and FCT. The process enabled the Military Pension Board to update its data payroll and ensure financial savings for the government.

The Minister also briefed the council on the update of the Presidential visit to Royal Kingdom of Jordan from 2-3 December 2017.

“The visit provided an avenue for implementation of agreement for the procurement of Excess Defence Articles from Jordan. The agreement entails rebuilding and modernisation of some of our military platforms.”

The Minister also expressed the need by the relevant security agencies to as a matter of urgency tackle the propagation of hate speech especially through the social media particularly by some notable Nigerians.

He said the Armed Forces are currently synegising with other security agencies through intelligence sharing and joint operations to address the various security challenges in Nigeria.

The Minister also thanked President Muhammadu Buhari “for his continuous funding of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to perform its constitutional role especially now that Nigeria is fighting multiple security challenges.”