By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) has been selling weapons to several African countries, Minister of State for Defence in the Africa’s most populous nation has stated.
Bello Matawalle at a press conference to herald the 60th anniversary celebration of DICON as well as the maiden Africa Defence Industries Conference and Exhibition in Abuja on Monday, said over 150 other foreign nationals would exhibit their capability and capacity during the exhibition in Nigeria.
The hosting of the maiden Africa defence industries conference and exhibition in Nigeria has shown the seriousness of the Ministry of Defence and the new DICON under the present administration, Matawalle, a former governor of the insecurity-ravaged North West state of Zamfara noted.
According to the Minister, “We want to change the narrative of DICON. Many people have been asking me that at 60 years old, what has DICON done? What are we doing? That we are buying foreign equipment, foreign ammunition and other armaments that DICON cannot yet produce.
“But when we assume the mantle of the leadership of the Ministry of Defence, we have been going up and down to ensure that DICON stand on its feet and to ensure the capacity and the capability of DICON so that we can be able to produce our own armaments; so that we can bring more investors, particularly the indigenous investors, so that we should give them the right to do as it is happening around the world.
“Now, most of the countries, not just the government, are partnering with this indigenous defence industry for the production of high tech military hardware.
“Therefore, DICON is entirely a new DICON, and we assure you within a short time you will see the capability of DICON, and what it can be able to produce.
“We cannot be able to inform the public everything about our capability or capacity for security reasons. But we assure you that we have the capacity, we have the capability to produce and as you know, many countries, many African countries now are coming to DICON for the procurement of their arms and ammunition.”
The minister said the new DICON Act 2023 has the potential to significantly contribute to Nigeria’s national development and national security by “boosting foreign exchange earnings through local production of defence equipment, creating jobs for skilled Nigerians, and reducing capital flight to foreign nations.”
