Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) will
support the Nigerian Army with it plans to increase the level of
Nigerian Content in the manufacture and procurement of military
hardware and accessories.
The Executive Secretary NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Wabote made the commitment
when he delivered the keynote address at the Nigerian Army Research and
Innovation Summit held in Abuja recently.
He spoke on “Local Content Development in Nigeria’s Defence Sector- an
imperative for National Development” and explained that Research and
Development (R&D) is the key to sustainable Nigerian Content growth
and development.
Represented by the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, NCDMB,
Mr. Daziba Patrick Obah, the Executive Secretary stated that for Research and Development to succeed and yield return on investment, it requires the
collaboration of various stakeholders and a long gestation period.
According to him, the Board’s Research and Development Strategy is supported by the Research and Development Guidelines and Ministerial Regulation, adding
that NCDMB had established Research Centres of Excellence at five
universities across the country, including the Institute of Petroleum
Studies (IPS) in the University of Port Harcourt, UNIBEN Centre for
Geoscience and Petroleum Engineering, Rivers University Centre for
Marine Engineering among others.
On strategies that would deepen the Army’s Nigerian Content
credentials and contributions to the national economy, Obah canvassed
adherence to the Presidential Executive Order 003, which mandates
Support for Local Content in Public Procurement by Ministries,
Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government, stressing that the
implementation of Local Content should not be misconstrued as
‘Nigerianisation’, instead, the focus should be on ’in-country value
addition.
There is also need for the Nigerian Army to incorporate Local Content
requirements as a key condition for its procurement, particularly in
Local assembly of armored cars, software development, assembly of
equipment for intelligence gathering, production of uniforms, local
production of bullet proof vests, building and maintenance of war
ships in Nigerian ship yards and local production of booths and
helmets.
He also counselled the Army “to equip institutions like the Nigeria
Defence Academy (NDA) as a Centre of Excellence for Research,
establish partnership with select Nigerian higher institutions on
areas of interest in research, link with relevant industry to progress
research findings to the stages of deployment or commercialization
where necessary and initiate specific projects for technology
development, demonstration, piloting and deployment or
commercialization.”
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Tukur Buratai opened the
exhibition segment of the three-day summit and promised that the
Nigerian Army will enhance its commitment to Research and Development
as a strategy for improving the military’s capacity to contain the
nation’s security challenges.
Some senior military officers and other resource persons spoke during
the plenary and advised the Army hierarchy to adopt the Nigerian
Content framework which had been successfully implemented by the
NCDMB. Chairman of the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria’s Local
Content Group, (MANLOCG) and Managing Director of Metec West Africa
Limited, Mr. Vassily Barberopoulos tasked the Army “to ask every big
foreign company that has been enjoying its budget to come to Nigeria
and partner with local companies.”
Another important contribution was the need for the Army to adopt a
particular type of rifle so that the Defence Industries Corporation of
Nigeria (DICON) can set up local manufacturing lines for the weapon.
The use of different brands and ranges of rifles by the Nigerian Army,
Navy, Airforce as well as the Police and other paramilitary
organisations has made local manufacture of rifles difficult, it was
said.