President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Ministry of Defence to produce a plan for the establishment of a military industrial complex, where weapons can be produced for the army.
Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu said Buhari gave this directive at the graduation ceremony of the National Defence College, Abuja.
Buhari said the production of weapons was meant to end the current over-dependence on other countries for military equipment and logistics. He said such a thing is not acceptable to his administration.
“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 MDAs and industries to re-engineer the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria to meet national military hardware and logistics requirements,” the President was quoted as saying.
“We recognised first and foremost, the external dimensions of these threats and the need for international cooperation and common security mechanisms to tackle them,” Buhari said.
Buhari added that his administration is convinced that the best approach is to work within the framework of the Lake Chad Basin Commission to mobilize a collective regional effort in the fight against terrorism and insurgency.
He urged the graduates, officers and men of the Armed Forces to work harder to win the war against Boko Haram, terrorism and insurgency.
“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; we must set up an optimal organisation to manage and sustain operational performance; and we must show confidence and winning mentality,” he added.
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