Muhammadu Buhari Announces Weapons Production Plan

President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has made known the plan of his government to produce arms needed by the country's security agencies in the country.  The president seeks to address the shortage of arms and ammunitions and the complete dependence on other governments and private bodies for arms acquisition. Nigeria had never ventured meaningfully into arms production in the past and many analysts are of the opinion that this plan by the Muhammadu Buhari's government will have lots of positive impact on the Nigerian security system and the Nigerian economy if the plan sails through. Nigeria will reduce the amount she spends on buying arms from other countries. Economists believe that this will reduce the need for foreign currency and it will ultimately translate to a stronger naira and a better Nigerian economy.

Analysts also believe that Nigeria will be able to curtail the activities of the insurgents more effectively if she is able to source her weapons from home instead of over-reliance on other countries to supply her military with arms and ammunition. It will be recorded that the country had been deviled by consistent attacks by Islamic insurgent, Boko Haram, for some years now. The Islamic sect seems to have resurrected all of a sudden and the president believes local production of arms will better prepare the Nigerian military to adequately handle the Boko Haram menace.

To make this plan come to fruition, the Federal Ministry of Defense had been directed by the president to bring forth a plan towards establishing Military Industrial Complex and the complex will be responsible for producing weapons to meet the needs of the security forces in Nigeria.  The president made this known at the National Defense College during the graduation ceremony of the Course 23 graduates. The president made known his dissatisfaction over the dependence on foreigners regarding weapons supply for the military. The president declared that Nigeria must be able to reduce the total dependence on foreign lands, even if few arms are still bought from other countries.          

The president plans to re-engineer Defense Industries Corporation of Nigeria so that the body can measure up to the national military hardware and logistics requirements. The president stated that he had taken time to understudy the challenges and threats being faced by the Nigerian security agencies since his administration came on board and he is already making plans to make things work better than initial. The president however stated his commitment to international collaboration towards complete extinction of the insurgencies and other threats facing Nigeria. He however stated categorically that the best way out is to look inward for solutions to the problem.

The president stated that he plans to work within the framework of the Lake Chad Basin Commission in order towards mobilizing coactive regional effort to combat insurgency. The president equally encouraged the graduates to do their utmost towards overcoming the Boko Haram threat. This decision by the president is seen as a move in the right direction by some political analysts, who also think the image of the country will be improved in the international community.

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