The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) have agreed to establish a structured partnership.

Ngozi Anyaelezu, the BPP’s assistant chief information officer, said in a statement in Abuja on Friday that the partnership aims to operationalise the federal government’s “Nigeria First” policy in the defence and security sectors.

Ms Anyaelezu said the partnership aimed to boost domestic defence investments, strengthen local military manufacturing, and promote national self-reliance.

She said the partnership was the focus of a courtesy visit by DICON Director-General (DG) Babatunde Alaya to BPP DG Adebowale Adedokun on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Mr Adedokun commended the DICON leadership for taking proactive steps to engage the BPP on procurement regulatory mechanisms.

He said the Nigeria First policy mandated ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to prioritise domestic products and services without compromising quality or global benchmarks.

According to him, the policy is part of President Bola Tinubu’s transformative agenda, with emphasis on enforcing domestic preference in public procurement.

Mr Adedokun said the policy gave indigenous defence producers and local military suppliers the first right of refusal for defence-related procurement.

He reaffirmed the BPP’s commitment to collaborating with DICON to streamline procurement frameworks and institutionalise domestic preference standards.

Earlier, Mr Alaya said the partnership would create a robust institutional alliance to integrate defence investments into the Nigeria First policy framework.

He said this would ensure that national security expenditure directly contributed to industrial growth and job creation.

Mr Alaya said DICON was committed to meeting Nigeria’s national security needs locally.

He said collaboration with the BPP was essential to align the corporation’s procurement pathways with local content compliance and ensure that public funds spent on defence yielded measurable economic returns for the nation.

The meeting ended with both agencies agreeing to establish a joint technical working committee to formalise the implementation roadmap.

(NAN)