Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja
In a renewed bid to contain insurgency and banditry in the country, the federal government yesterday expressed its determination to boost production of military hardware and equipment.
This came as the military high command said it was set to change its mode of operation to involve both kinetic and non-kinetic measures to tackle insecurity and terrorism across the country.
Speaking during a visit to the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), in Kaduna, the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, said the government planned to revamp and scale up the arms manufacturing agency to full capacity.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Defence quoted Matawalle as saying that the government was committed to increasing the capacity of arms production at the agency.
The minister “charged the staff and engineers of the Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) to improve on their performances as the federal government plans to revamp and scale up the industry to a full production capacity in the production of military equipment and hardware.”
Matawalle, who made the assertion during his maiden visit to DICON facilities in Kaduna State, urged the staff of the agency to show more dedication to duty
“As the technical personnel of this promising industry, your professionalism and dedication to work are paramount in sustaining the vision and growth of this industry. We will ensure you get adequate funding to achieve this”, he said.
In his remarks, the Director-General of DICON, Major General AE Edet, thanked the minister for his words of encouragement and assured him of DICON’s unwavering commitment to its vision and objective for which it was set up.
As part of his maid
en tour of the agency, the minister visited DICON’s special equipment factory, ballistic helmet production unit, and tailoring unit among others.
Meanwhile, the military high command said it was set to change its mode of operation to involve both kinetic and non-kinetic measures to tackle insecurity and terrorism across the country.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani; the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Christopher Musa, said ‘Operation Safe Haven’ of the Nigerian Army will be expanded in Southern Kaduna to cover Birnin Gwari areas as requested by Governor Uba Sani.
“We are going to expand Operation Safe Haven in Southern Kaduna and Birnin Gwari areas. What we are doing is that we had a meeting with task force leaders and theatre commanders to develop a more robust and result-oriented approach.
“We are changing the mode of operation from what it used to be; it will now be both kinetic and non-kinetic. We observed that there are some gaps, so we are going to close them down because closing them down will make it difficult for terrorists to move around and operate freely, ensuring that the people of Kaduna have peace of mind,” he reportedly said.
He called for concerted efforts on the part of stakeholders to contain security challenges afflicting the nation.
In his remarks, Governor Sani appealed for a prolonged stay of the special forces and the expansion of Operation Safe Haven in Southern Kaduna to Kafanchan, Zangon Kataf, Kaura, Sanga, Birnin Gwari, and Giwa areas to restrict bandits from using the state as an operational base.
