Director General of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), Johnson Babatunde, has informed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that proceeds of crime are being used to bring arms and ammunition into the country.
Babatunde lodged this complaint on Tuesday when he led a delegation on a courtesy visit to the Executive Chairman of the EFCC at the Commission’s corporate headquarters in Jabi, Abuja.
His words: “We have seen where proceeds of crime have been used to bring in arms and ammunition when it became difficult for criminal elements to bring in huge sums of money accruing from their illicit financial transactions.
“Some of them resort to buying small arms and light weapons to be brought into the country to prosecute some other heinous crimes. Some of these things, of course, are critical areas where we are looking for collaboration to see how the EFCC can be of tremendous help.”
The retired Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), however, requested the support and collaboration of the EFCC in the pursuit of its mandate to control the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.
“We are here essentially to look for possibilities of initiating collaborative efforts with the EFCC in the fight against the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria.
“Since we have been able to establish a link between arms proliferation and finances from heinous crimes.
“We acknowledge the pivotal role of the EFCC in combating financial and economic crimes in Nigeria and, in a way, violent crimes. It is common knowledge that most violent crimes in Nigeria wouldn’t have been possible if the proliferation of small arms and light weapons was absent.
“But with the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, criminal elements become involved. So we are here to seek collaboration. We are here to seek synergy.
“We are here to initiate a sort of interaction, a collaborative effort with the EFCC to see how the EFCC will be of tremendous assistance to us in our statutory responsibility of fighting the proliferation of small arms and light weapons,” he said.
The NCCSALW boss also sought the EFCC’s help in manpower training in the areas of financial intelligence, forensic investigations, and financial intelligence analysis.
In his response, Olukoyede acknowledged the nexus between violent crimes and financial crimes and pledged the willingness of the EFCC to collaborate with NCCSALW to contain the proliferation of arms and weapons in the country.
“Wherever you see insecurity, there is usually the propensity or prevalence of financial crimes. That’s the truth. There is a very strong relationship between financial crimes and the proliferation of small arms, which, in the end, results in insecurity.
“When we go out on sting operations, particularly against the young people involved in cybercrime, we discover that their activities have even gone beyond the perpetration of financial crimes through the use of computers and other electronic gadgets.
“A lot of them now carry arms. They are into kidnapping, they are into banditry. They are also into ritual killing.
“I just pray that all Nigerians understand what we are talking about so that everybody will be part of this crusade. This has necessitated that both agencies work together to form a strategy,” he said.
The EFCC boss expressed delight with the increasing collaboration and synergy among law enforcement agencies in the country, in contrast to their past tendency to operate in silos.
“The inter-agency collaboration that we lacked in Nigeria has probably become a thing of the past. In recent times, you can see collaboration among the law enforcement agencies.
“Most of the time these days, we speak with one voice. You see us sitting together at a round table to discuss the issue of security in Nigeria.
“I pledge our support, our collaboration to ensure that you achieve your mandate. There is a need for information and intelligence sharing,” he said.
