Muhammad Dingyadi, the Minister of Police Affairs, has responded to calls for Nigerians to be allowed to bear arms in the wake of rising insecurity in the country, noting that the country’s insecurity would be worsened if people are allowed to bear arms.
Dingyadi stated this at a media parley in Abuja Thursday evening while answering a question on the call by the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ado Doguwa.
Doguwa had last week said Nigerians should be allowed to bear arms in self-defense considering the deteriorating security situation in the country.
“We are even doing all we can to ensure that we minimize the circulation of firearms among most Nigerians. We should restrict this to people who are supposed to own them, those who are supposed to use them, people who have been trained to use them and people who have access to use them,” he said.
“Otherwise, if you make it all people’s affair, it will worsen the situation. This is my honest opinion. I don’t share that view at this moment, I don’t support that.”
The minister added that his ministry was doing everything in its capacity to ensure that implementation of salary increment for police officers across the country becomes a reality as soon as possible