Military, others plan local production of weapons
Nigeria can no longer depend entirely on foreign military arms supply in fighting Boko Haram insurgency and other acts of terrorism, the nation has to develop its local arms production and be self sufficient in order to adequately defend its territorial integrity, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Gabriel Olonisakin, has said.
The service chiefs and the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, agreed with the submission of Gen. Olonisakin, who spoke at the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Research and Development Seminar 2015 where NAF Strategic Plan (2015-2030) was unveiled.
The CDS, who highlighted his position on the need for Nigeria to immediately embark on development and local production of weapons to fight the insurgency and other acts of terrorism in the country, said that “fighting insurgency, presently we don’t have the wherewithal and that is why we are encouraging research and development so that we can be self-reliant in our production, and in no distance future we will get there.
“Research and development is a tripod arrangement: the user, manufacturer and academia. The three hands must be in synergy. We being the user need all the other legs so that we can get the product that is required to prosecute insurgency.
“We will reach out to local manufacturers to make sure that we inculcate them into the whole arrangement. Funding is usually an issue you have in any project, but if you are determined and focused, you will get along. Research and development is not a one day issue, it is a gradual thing, so as the funds comes in, we will begin to improve on whichever project we are into”.
Olonisakin insisted that Nigeria is winning the war against Boko Haram insurgency, and working hard to meet the President’s deadline to defeat the insurgents. “We are working with timeline and we have our mandate and we are working within our mandate.”
On why countries with nuclear powers have been able to tame terrorism to some extent, he pointed out that “nuclear energy is another form of energy, so for us as a nation, we have all the institutions that have been put in place by government to develop our nuclear energy. In Obafemi Awolowo University, there is a centre for nuclear development, which is an outlet to make sure that we develop our nuclear capabilities”.
He told the participants drawn from the academia, military, business interests and retired top military personnel at the seminar that this country is endowed with a lot of professionals who are contributing extensively to technology elsewhere in the world. “Lack of synergy has been primarily responsible for the low level of technological and industrial advancement we are currently experiencing.
“It is, however, gladdening to observe that the armed forces have decided to seize the initiative to kick start research and development in Nigeria. I therefore charge the cream of professionals among us this morning to take this as a challenge. In any case, several technological breakthroughs the world is enjoying today were initiated by the military, probably due to our unique needs.
“We are aware of the security challenges the country is facing both in the north east, south south and other areas of our dear nation. We cannot continue to depend 100 percent on foreign technology if we really intend to tackle these security challenges headlong.
“That is why the President mandated us to develop our defence industry and boost defence production. This is quite realizable if we can develop the requisite synergy among ourselves. There must be collaboration among the military, the academia and technocrats and industrialists”, the CDS said.
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshall Abubakar, explained that apart from combating terrorism in the country, “to any nation, home-based technology is a sure way to acquire some degree of immunity from the vagaries of international politics of economy and defence”.
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1 Comments
What is the connection between being a nuclear power and defeating terrorism? Not sure that part of the write-up makes any sense. The way some of our journalists write and ask questions and the manner in which our government officials respond to questions is really baffling.
We will review and take appropriate action.