Nigeria’s military and other relevant stakeholders must stay one step ahead of culprits while simultaneously boosting up domestic armament manufacture in order to address the country’s existing security concerns and emerging threats.
This was one of the standouts of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s, SAN, response to the National Defence College Course 30 participants’ presentation on “Defence Transformation and National Security: Strategic Options for Nigeria of the Future” late on Wednesday during a virtual session.
According to the Vice President, “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.”
Continuing, Prof. Osinbajo added that “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.”
The Vice President while making a case for improved investment in Defence Industries Corporation (DICON), noted that “every country of the world takes advantage (in my view) of the crisis situation that it faces.”
According to him, “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.”
Prof. Osinbajo praised the course participants for their efforts in suggesting improvements in the defence sector and stressed the importance of indigenous arm production.
“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.”
The vice president also discussed the necessity of openness in the administration of funds allocated for the purchase of hardware for the defence and security agencies.
“There needs to be more accountability because every time you hear about ‘we not having enough equipment,’ but there must be accountability. I will like to see a framework for greater accountability within the Ministry of Defence that ensures that they are able to account for military expenditure,” he said.
Col. A. A. Adamu earlier suggested, among other things, reorganising the Ministry of Defence to reflect modern problems and limit new threats to defence and security in a presentation on behalf of the Course 30 participants.
In order to effectively change Nigeria’s defence and security sector, he also emphasised the need to increase the country’s defence manufacturing capacity, leveraging, and promote collaboration within and across Africa.
In addition to thanking him for the chance to present, Col. Adamu prayed for the Vice President’s quick recovery on behalf of the course participants and the National Defence College administration.
Along with other senior officers from the college, other government representatives who attended the event included the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, the Commandant of the National Defence College, Rear Adm. Murtala Bashir, and a representative of the Inspector General of Police.
The National Defence College’s annual academic schedule prominently features course participants presenting research reports to the Vice President. Since 2016, members of the college have given the Vice President reports of research done in important areas.
Participants in Course 27 gave a presentation on “Water Resource Management and Regional Security: Lake Chad in perspective” in 2019. Participants in Course 28 gave a presentation on “Border Management & National Development, in Nigeria: The ECOWAS Protocol Relating to Free Movement of Persons, Residence & Establishment in Perspective” in 2020. Participants in Course 29 gave a presentation on “Creating Jobs & Opportunities for Africa’s Largest Youth Population” in 2021.