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From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Director-General of The Defence Industries Cooperation of Nigeria (DICON), Major General Victor Ezugwu on Wednesday pledged the readiness of the industry to redouble its efforts in the production of military equipment and arms to further strengthen the ongoing war against terrorism and other forms of insecurity the country is faced with.
Speaking at day-2 of a three-day retreat organised for management staff of DICON in Kaduna, the top army personnel pledge that, DICON would do more in the manufacturing of ordnance materiel for the Nigerian Armed Forces and other security agencies – leveraging on in-source materials.
Known for his interest in the promotion of local content since his appointment as the DG of the military hardware production giant some 15 months ago, Maj-Gen Ezugwu believes in research and production of more sophisticated hardware for the Nigerian military to be able to deal decisively with emerging security threats.
He was of the view that the development would help in the fight against terrorism and other forms of criminal activities in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s assurances in his new year speech, who assured Nigerians of more security.
According to him, upon his assumption of duty as the Head of DICON, he coined his vision which was “to be the Hallmark for Research and Manufacture of military equipment leveraging on local content that meets the global standards”.
“We have made efforts to reactivate the moribund Explosives Factory in Jebba for more profitability in this era of dwindled scarce resources.
“On strengthening the capacity and innovation, DICON collaborated with the Nigerian Army Command Engineering Depot from which the Ezugwu MRAP was birthed and other partnership with defence-related industries.
“We also partnered the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, several Tertiary institutions, relevant research institutes and other private and public organisations, among many others.
“I have also decided to institutionalise this management retreat to hold annually and serve as a veritable platform for cross-fertilisation of ideas among the DICON top management staff”, the DG narrated.
The immediate past DG of the Industry, Maj-Gen Dickson Ehiorobo presented a paper titled the necessity of innovation and creativity for the transformation of DICON to meet the equipment needs of the military and other security agencies.
There were several presentations by expertise from academia and military spheres and subsequent discussions on how DICON could do better in delivering its mandate to the Nigerian Armed Forces.
