Nigeria’s armed forces cannot “continue to rely on the West” for military hardware to fight Boko Haram and bandits.
To develop local capacity to tackle worsening insecurity, the Nigerian Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), on Tuesday in Abuja, showcased army schools’ research and development efforts.
TRADOC had on Monday commenced a two-day Research and Development Conference and Curriculum Harmonisation Workshop for Nigerian Army School.
During the programme’s opening, the chief of training (Army), Maj.-Gen. Abdulsalam Ibrahim reiterated the commitment of the army to research and development to address the contemporary security challenges confronting the nation effectively.
The theme of the event is ‘Research and Development Efforts Amidst National Security Challenges’.
He said the army leveraged research and development to enhance operational efficiency.
The dean of the faculty of arts at the Federal University of Lafia, Okpe Okpe, a resource person at the event, said the question of knowledge management had become critical amid the deterioration of security in Nigeria.
Mr Okpe said research for developmental purposes remained an important part of knowledge management, which TRADOC Nigerian army had been driving according to him.
“From what we have seen in the exhibition, It is clear that the Nigerian army has the capability to indigenise technology that will begin the process of self-reliance for Nigeria,” said Mr Okpe. “You can see all what have been displayed in terms of some of the equipment that you saw.”
He added, “What we are trying to do or what the army is trying to do is to tell the world that it has the capacity and the capability, but more importantly, it has the skills to do all these things in order to promote national confidence and national pride.”
Mr Okpe further noted that Nigeria’s military could not “continue to rely on the West,” stressing that “when the Boko Haram thing started, a number of countries abroad refused to provide Nigeria with the requisite resources that it needed in order to counter it.”
“Now these have shown very clearly that until we look inwards, we cannot solve our problems, and we must understand it from that perspective,” he said.
The Nigerian Army School of Artillery (NASA), Nigerian Army Armour School, and Nigerian Army School of Infantry, among others, displayed various innovations from their research and development efforts.
(NAN)
