President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday
directed the Ministry of Defence to produce a plan for the establishment
of a military industrial complex for the local production of weapons
for the use of the nation’s armed forces.
According to a statement by his Senior
Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President
gave the directive at the graduation ceremony of the National Defence
College, Abuja.
He
said the local production of weapons was meant to end the current
over-dependence on other countries for military equipment and logistics.
The statement quoted Buhari as saying,
“We must evolve viable mechanisms for near-self-sufficiency in military
equipment and logistics production complemented only by very advanced
foreign technologies.
“The ministry of defence is being tasked
to draw up clear and measurable outlines for development of a modest
military industrial complex for Nigeria.
“In this regard, it is to liaise with
other strategic ministries, departments and agencies and industries to
re-engineer the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria to meet
national military hardware and logistics requirements.”
Buhari was said to have told the
gathering that his administration had reviewed the nature and character
of Nigeria’s security threats and challenges.
“We recognised first and foremost, the
external dimensions of these threats and the need for international
cooperation and common security mechanisms to tackle them,” the
President said.
Buhari added that in the light of this
realisation, his administration was convinced that the best approach was
to work within the framework of the Lake Chad Basin Commission to
mobilise a collective regional effort in the fight against insurgency.
He therefore asked personnel of the Armed Forces to work harder to win the war against insurgency in the country.
Buhari said, “We must apply a
comprehensive strategy and coordinate all elements of national power
against terrorism and insurgency. We must show result-oriented
leadership at all levels of military command and set up an optimal
organisation to manage and sustain operational performance.”
The President assured Nigerians that the
Federal Government would meet the operational, logistic, training and
welfare requirements of the Armed Forces.
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