We Need To Be Steps Ahead Of Bandits, Terrorists—Osinbajo

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that Nigeria’s current security challenges and emerging threats require the country’s military and other relevant stakeholders to be several steps ahead of perpetrators while also stepping up local production of armaments.

This was one of the highlights of the response of Osinbajo after receiving a presentation on “Defence Transformation and National Security: Strategic Options for Nigeria of the Future”, by the National Defence College Course 30 participants, late Wednesday during a virtual interaction.

According to a statement issued and signed by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande,

Osinbajo said, “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.”

He 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.”

Commending the course participants for their efforts in proposing innovations in the defence sector, Osinbajo emphasized the urgency of the local production of arms.

“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 spoke about the need for transparency in the management of resources meant for the acquisition 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.