N124bn weapons imported in four years – Report

The National Bureau of Statistics has said arms and ammunition worth N8.368 billion were brought into the country in the third quarter of 2022.

The figure was contained in the NBS report on trade statistics obtained by our correspondent.

Although the report did not state which agency imported the arms and ammunition, the said data for the report is from the Nigerian Customs Service through the Integrated Customs Information System, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, various companies in the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil industry, the Central Bank of Nigeria, Angila International Limited, Neroli Technologies Limited, Gojopal Nigeria Limited, Carmine Assayer Limited, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority and the Nigerian Ports Authority among others.

Also contained in the report was the importation of arms and ammunition in 2018.

In 2018, N1.946 billion worth of arms and ammunition were imported into the country, while in 2019, N12.773 billion was spent on the importation of arms and ammunition.

For 2020, N29.236 billion worth of arms was imported. In 2021, N72.5 billion in arms and ammunition were imported, and for the third quarter of 2022, N8.368 billion was spent on the importation of the commodities.

This amounts to a total of N124.82 billion since 2018.