President Muhammadu Buhari has admitted that arms and ammunition continued to flow into the country illegally despite closure of land borders.

Buhari disclosed this while receiving the farewell audience of the outgoing Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

In a statement titled “An unstable Libya remains a problem for the Sahel region, says President Buhari” by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, the reason for the illegal flow of weapons into the country was attributed to the situation in Libya.

It stated that once the country remains unstable, illegal arms and ammunition will continue to flow in the Sahel region of Africa.

The President was quoted as saying on Thursday that “We closed our land borders here for more than a year, but arms and ammunition continued to flow illegally.

“As far as Libya remains unstable, so will the problem remains.

“We have to cope with the problems of development, as we can’t play hop, step and jump. But we will eventually overcome those problems.”

Buhari noted that Muammar Gadaffi held a grip on power in Libya for 42 years by recruiting armed guards from different countries, who then escaped with their arms when the Libyan strongman was killed.

He said “They didn’t learn any other skill than to shoot and kill. So, they are a problem all over the Sahel countries today.”

He described Chambas, who spent many years in Nigeria in different capacities, from ECOWAS to UN, as “more of a Nigerian than anything else.”

He wished him well in his future endeavours.

The outgoing Special Representative thanked the President “for personal support I received from you, and from Nigeria as a country,” adding that the country would continue to play a leadership role on the continent.