FEC Approves N272m Firearms For Prisons

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the purchase of 400 Beretta assault rifles with 20,000 rounds of ammunition for the Nigeria Prisons Service to curtail jailbreaks.

The Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau disclosed this on Wednesday at the end of the FEC meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, which held inside the council chamber.

Dambazau said the arms and ammunition “is peculiar to those weapons” and will be purchased at the cost of N272 million with a delivery period of 120 days.

“If you recall, not too long ago, our prison in Minna was attacked from the outside and some of the dangerous prisoners were freed.

“The prison has an armed squad. We realised after an investigation of that attack that one of the major shortcomings within that prison was lack of adequate arms and ammunition,” Dambazau said.