Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru with DG DICON, Major General Aniedi Edet, during the Minister’s tour of DICON facilities on Thursday in Kaduna.
Nigeria set to produce defence equipment needs – Defence Minister
Nigeria will soon commence the production of arms and ammunition to meet the needs of the country’s Armed Forces, Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, said on Thursday in Kaduna.
The minister who toured facilities of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), said government has gone into partnership with arms factories to set up production lines in the country.
He said that the target is for Nigeria to attain sufficiency in military hardware.
“About five factories are now in the process of being inaugurated. We have seen the one at Kachia which is only awaiting the machineries which are already on the ground to be installed.
“We have also seen DICON-SUR which is almost completed, we have also seen the Pro-force, DICON new site where MRAP will be produced and for future manufacturing of drones.
“With these new factories that are coming up, we will be able to have more local production of military equipment,” he said.
Badaru expressed satisfaction at the pace of the construction and resuscitation of some of the DICON facilities.
“We are encouraging the private sector to invest in military equipment such as bullets, protective gears and other platforms so that we will no longer be importing them,” he said.
The minister said many arms factories have shown interest for partnership with DICON, of which while some have been granted permission to commence the construction of the production lines for bullets, guns and assembling of helicopters and drones.
“President Tinubu is doing his best, we are pushing so hard like the new factories we have all seen.
”Of all the factories, only one is owned by the government while the others are in partnership with DICON.
“We are trying to encourage more private investment in arms and ammunition, and defence equipment manufacturing in the country,” Badaru said.
The Director-General of DICON, Major General Aniedi Edet, said their partnership with Imperium Ultramodern Production Facility and other private companies were critical in meeting the nation’s defence needs.
One of the partners, the CEO of Imperium Ultramodern Production Facility, Mr Agbo Shedrack, assured the minister of quality output in terms of military hard wares.
Areas visited by the defence minister included the DICON Primer Cap Factory in Kachia, DICON Ordinance Factory in Kakuri, its substations and workshops, among others.