The minister of defence, Mohammed Badaru, says unlocking the nation’s industrial potential is key to alleviating poverty, unemployment, and insecurity and transforming daunting socio-economic challenges into opportunities.

Mr Badaru said this in Abuja on Thursday, at the National Defence College (NDC) Course 34 inaugural lecture with the theme ”Optimising Capacity for Industrialisation and Social-Economic Development in Africa”.

Clarifying the nation’s pursuit of economic transformation, he noted that the key to unlocking the country’s industrial potential lay in a deliberate recalibration of government policies.

He emphasised that once Nigeria’s industrial capacity was fully optimised, the solutions to these entrenched problems would become significantly more attainable, paving the way for a more prosperous and stable nation.

The minister commended the guest lecturer, Olasupo Olusi, managing director of Bank of Industry, for his insightful lecture that Africa had what it takes to be economically independent

He said that Mr Olusi had skilfully woven the nexus between industrialisation and socio-economic development, clearly underlining how Nigeria and Africa could optimise capacity.

“This is crucial given that Africa is the resource epicentre of the world, a continent that has historically fed and continues to feed industrialisation in developed nations.

”My deep understanding today is that Nigeria’s socio-economic development cannot be realised without the effective optimisation of our industrial capacity. Addressing poverty, unemployment, inequality and insecurity will become significantly easier once the country’s industrial capacity is fully optimised.

“Sincerely, this inaugural lecture is a key activity kick-starting Course 34 and highly relevant to the course theme and the contemporary global ecosystem,” he said.

According to him, the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous global setting fuels violent extremism and non-state actors who increasingly challenge state power, especially in Africa.

”Nigeria in particular is plagued with insecurity from terrorism, insurgency and banditry.

”My honest submission, therefore, is that resolving these complex problems will ultimately require the optimisation of our industrial capacity through a clear recalibration of government policies on industrialisation,” he said.

Mr Olusi, in his lecture, said that the BOI remained deeply committed to advancing industrialisation, supporting projects that generated jobs, promoting exports, enabling import substitution, and contributing to sustainable national development.

According to the guest lecturer, these efforts reflect one truth: development finance is not just about loans; it is about impact, sustainability, and transformation.

The BOI boss stressed that productive transformation was the bridge between aspiration and achievement.

”It turns potential into power and resources into resilience. Africa has the talent, the resources, and the market to achieve this transformation.

”What is required now is coordination, conviction, and continuity; the discipline to stay the course; the leadership to inspire others; and the cooperation to make progress collective rather than isolated.

“For this generation of leaders, the challenge is not to imagine what Africa can become but to build it with deliberate intent. The best way to predict the future is to create it. Let us make productive capacity part of our,” he said.

The commandant of NDC, James Okosun, said that the college remained committed to its mission of academic excellence and leadership development.

Mr Okosun said the college’s mission was also to develop future structures of strategic leaders equipped with the knowledge and expertise to leverage elements of national power in the dynamic defence and security environments.

“Our vision is to be a global centre of excellence for educating potential strategic leaders in the dynamic world, and I am confident that through this lecture, we will contribute to the achievement of this goal. The core values that guide us in the college are excellence, courage, patriotism, and integrity.

“We strive to uphold these values in all our endeavours, and I am proud to say that they have been instrumental in shaping our history into what it is today.

”It is worth saying that the National Defence College of Nigeria has successfully graduated a total of 3,099 participants from 1990 to 2025, including 359 officers from allied countries,” he said.

(NAN)