- Company seals landmark deal with SP Offshore
The Director General of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) Maj.-Gen. Babatunde Ibrahim Alaya has said the country will soon be self-sufficient in the local manufacturing of arms and ammunition.
Alaya spoke yesterday at DICON headquarters in Kaduna at the signing of a joint venture agreement with SP Offshore Nigeria Limited to locally manufacture military hardware, including weapons, ammunition, fast assault craft, drones, and security vehicles.
The DICON boss described the agreement as a watershed that would advance the country’s long-held aspiration to establish a robust military-industrial complex.
“This Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SP Offshore takes DICON to another level. We are now partnering with another Nigerian company to produce ammunition, weapons and even establish a jetty in Lagos where we can manufacture fast assault craft, security vehicles and other platforms critical to our national security,” he said.
Alaya expressed the confidence that within the next year, the partnership would birth the local production of ammunition, with plans to scale up to full weapons manufacturing afterwards.
“This is a great day for DICON because this joint venture project will fast-track our indigenous capacity and help us meet the needs of the Nigerian Armed Forces and other security agencies,” he added.
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Alaya praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for signing the DICON Act 2023, which provides the legal framework that enables the corporation to enter such strategic partnerships.
He also acknowledged the support of the Minister of Defence, the Minister of State for Defence, the Chief of Defence Staff, and the Service Chiefs for backing the corporation’s new trajectory.
The Chief Executive Officer of SP Offshore Nigeria Limited, Mr. Obafemi Adekunle, said the partnership would bring billions of dollars in investments into Nigeria’s defence sector, with technology transfer and capacity building as major highlights.
Adekunle stressed that modern warfare would increasingly hinge on technological superiority, adding: “The next wars won’t just be fought with guns and bullets, but through technological warfare.
“What we are offering the Nigerian military is deterrence capability, the kind that puts fear into the enemies of the state and compels them to rethink any attempt to destabilise our country.”