The Director-General (DG) of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), Maj.-Gen. Hassan Tafida, at the 2023 symposium on Defence and Security for participants of Senior Course 45 of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji in Kaduan on Wednesday said that the security challenges facing the nation require the use of modern military equipment to surmount.
The theme of the symposium was ‘Imperative of a Military Industrial Complex for Effective Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency Operations in Nigeria (CTCOIN)”.
Tafida explained that the current security challenges faced by the Armed Forces of Nigeria in the mould of terrorism, insurgency and armed banditry had compelled the need for further reforms or review of the status quo.
He further advocated for deployment of modern and sophisticated military equipment by the services to combat the security challenges.
The DG noted that the symposium would broaden and expose the participants understanding on the need for vibrant military industrial complex that would be employed in combating security issues.
He explained that the participants were expected to contribute to the discussion and the discourse in line with the topic under discussion and the theme.
He advised them to critique the papers being presented, to add value as well as deepen the discussion on the topic under discussion as it affected national security and the Armed Forces.
Earlier, the Commandant of the AFCSC, AVM Emmanuel Wonah, said the College Defence and Security Symposium was the major package in the senior staff course curriculum.
He said It offered unique opportunities to discuss contemporary defence and security issues affecting the nation.
He noted that the symposium was aimed at generating ideas from the critical and intuitive minds of the participants or students and discussants, to assist the services find solutions to extant and emerging security challenges.
“As we are all aware, the Federal Government, over the years, has
initiated various programmes and initiatives in the
defence and security sectors,” he said .
“These initiatives have been
largely tailored towards enhancing professionalism, to enable us reposition ourselves in the fight against terrorism
and other counter-insurgency operations.
Wonah further explained that in view of the theme, six research topics were developed for the students in groups, with each group allocated a topic for research.
He said the students had conducted their research and submitted their findings to the college in the form of service papers.
The commandant said that in the next three days, the students would present their research findings and were, however,
expected to continue the research, refine their works and then present the executive summary of their findings to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and Service Chiefs in July.
NAN