Locally made military hardware gets another boost
President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday in Kaduna State, commissioned the Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) bullet proof vest production factory.
The president commended the Public Private Partnership (PPP) between DICON and MAROM-DOLPHIN Nigeria Limited which resulted in the domestic production of the bullet proof vests and other textile wares for the Nigerian Armed Forces and other security agencies in the country.
He noted that the landmark event further signalled that the “nation’s military establishment has effectively keyed into the federal government’s Local Content Policy which is aimed at building indigenous capacity in the petroleum and other sectors of the national economy.”
The president pledged his commitment to creating an enabling environment for local manufacturing industries to grow, become major employers of labour and thus become globally competitive.
The nation’s military authorities have reduced Nigeria’s dependence on foreign made hardware with the recent Nigerian Navy’s locally designed and constructed Seaward Defence Boat and the Armoured Personnel Carriers locally produced by the Nigerian Army Engineering Corps
While urging all Nigerians to show patriotism by buying DICON products, Jonathan indicated that a directive would soon be issued to compel all federal agencies to patronise DICON unless they can prove convincingly that such products are not available locally. “That is the only way we can move as a nation,” he said.
DICON was established by an Act of Parliament in 1964 to primarily “produce small arms and ammunitions for the use of the Nigerian Army, paramilitary and security agencies in the country.”
