Insecurity: how Nigeria can meet current challenges – Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, suggested ways in which Nigeria can address the current security challenges in the country.

Osinbajo said Nigeria's current security challenges and emerging threats require the country's military and other relevant stakeholders to be several steps ahead of the perpetrators while stepping up local production of armaments.< /p>

The Vice President said this after receiving a presentation on "Defence Transformation and National Security: Strategic Options for the Nigeria of the Future", by the 30 participants of the National Defense College Course on Wednesday evening during virtual interaction.

He said, "If you look at the challenges we face and the nature of those challenges, it's obvious that we need to be way ahead of the non-state actors in particular who are the perpetrators of this asymmetric warfare who we live."

Osinbajo added that "it is clear that given the current realities of our security situation, we absolutely must accelerate all our plans for the future so that we can be much more effective in dealing with the current threats. and the threats we will experience as we move forward into the future.

"One of the most critical areas is the issue of local production of military equipment and I believe this is a low hanging fruit when it comes to making some of the material that we will need. I think that it is necessary, especially now, to look very closely at the local production of our material, starting with the armament.

"We mentioned India, Brazil, and even the most developed economies in the world, during the first world war, the second world war, it was these challenges that led to the development of their military-industrial complexes We have a challenge today, there are so many areas where there is conflict, our law enforcement is spread all over.

“If we say that local companies should produce some of the mobile platforms such as armored personnel carriers (APCs) and armored multi-role vehicles (MRAVs), if we give them the contracts, they will produce, but if we choose to import rather than produce locally, we will never develop our military-industrial complex.”

Osinbajo also spoke about the need for transparency in the management of resources intended for the acquisition of equipment for defense and security agencies.

"There needs to be more accountability because every time you hear, 'we don't have enough gear', but there needs to be accountability. I'd like to see a framework for greater accountability within the Department of Defense that ensures it is able to account for military spending,” he said.