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Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has said ongoing security challenges and emerging threats require the military and other relevant stakeholders to be several steps ahead of non-state actors while also stepping up local production of armaments.

He stated this after receiving a presentation on “Defence Transformation and National Security: Strategic Options for Nigeria of the Future” by the National Defence College Course 30 participants, late Wednesday during a virtual interaction.

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“If you look at the challenges that we are facing and the nature of those challenges, it is evident that we need to be many steps ahead of non-state actors in particular who are perpetrators of this asymmetric warfare that we are experiencing,” Osinbajo said in a statement by his spokesperson, Laolu Akande.

“It is clear that given current realities in our security situation, there is absolutely every need for us to fast-forward all our plans for the future so that we can be much more effective in dealing with the current threats and the threats that we will experience as we go into the future.

“One of the most critical areas is the question of local production of military hardware and I think it is a low-hanging fruit when it comes to manufacturing some of the hardware that we will need. I think that there is a need, especially now to really look very closely at local production of our hardware, beginning with armament.”

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The vice president also made a case for improved investment in Defence Industries Corporation (DICON), saying “every country of the world takes advantage of the crisis situation that it faces.

We mentioned India, Brazil, and even the more developed economies of the world, during the first world war, the second world war, it was these challenges that led to the development of their military-industrial complexes.

We have a challenge today, there are so many zones where there are conflicts. Our law enforcement is spread out everywhere.”

Commending the course participants for their efforts in proposing innovations in the defence sector, Osinbajo emphasised the urgency for local production of arms.

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“If we say the local companies should produce some of the mobile platforms like Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and Multi-Role Armoured Vehicle (MRAV), if we give them the contracts, they will produce, but if we choose to import rather than produce locally then we will never develop our military-industrial complex.”

(Sun)