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Nigeria Set To Unveil its First Home-made Tank

Published

5 years ago

March 4, 2016

Nigeria will be unveiling its first own domestically-made prototype of the armourd personnel carrier (APC) in September.
Major General Bamidele Ogunkale, director general of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), has revealed this on March 4, Thursday.
Ogunkale was speaking while receiving Brig Gen Christopher Musa paid him a courtesy visit at the DICON headquarters in Kaduna.
The director general has said that corporation hopes to launch mass production.
He said: “ By September this year, we hope to unveil the first prototype APC and with presidential support, we will go into mass production.”
“Nigerians try to compare and contrast Brazil Defence Industries with DICON. Whatever hurdles we have identified, we should clear them and move forward. I am optimistic that President Muhammadu Buhari who said he is not happy with the wreck in DICON against the hard earned foreign exchange going out for purchase of arms and ammunition, would no doubt give DICON the needed support.”
The immediate past government of Goodluck Jonathan two years ago unveiled the country’s first indigenous unmanned aerial vehicle, GULMA, designed and constructed by the Nigerian Air Force.
Nigeria’s military lack basic arms to fight the deadly Boko Haram sect, that threatened peace in Nigeria for many years. The former national security adviser Sambo Dasuki allegedly diverted $2,1 bn meant for the purchase of weapons to fight the insurgents.