Maj.-Gen. Hassan Tafida, director-general of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), says the nation’s security challenges require modern military equipment.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is grappling with Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements, with several reports suggesting the criminals have greater firepower.

Mr Tafida made the statement in Kaduna on Wednesday while addressing participants of Senior Course 45 of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji, during the 2023 symposium on Defence and Security.

He explained that the current security challenges faced by the country’s armed forces in the form of terrorism, insurgency and armed banditry had compelled further reforms or review of the status quo.

The general further advocated employing modern and sophisticated military equipment by the services to combat the security challenges.

Mr Tafida noted that the symposium would broaden and expose the participants’ understanding of the need for a vibrant military-industrial complex to combat security issues.

He explained that the participants were expected to contribute to the discussion and the discourse in line with the topic under discussion and the theme.

The AFCSC commandant, Emmanuel Wonah, said the College Defence and Security Symposium was the major package in the senior staff course curriculum. He said it offered unique opportunities to discuss contemporary defence and security issues affecting the nation.

Mr Wonah noted that the symposium aimed to generate ideas from the critical and intuitive minds of the participants or students and discussants to assist the services in finding solutions to extant and emerging security challenges.

“As we are all aware, the federal government, over the years, has

initiated various programmes and initiatives in the defence and security sectors,” he said. “These initiatives have been largely tailored towards enhancing professionalism to enable us to reposition ourselves in the fight against terrorism and other counter-insurgency operations.”

Mr Wonah further explained that given the theme, six research topics were developed for the students in groups, with each group allocated a topic for research.

(NAN)