•Olonisakin seeks local partnership
Nigeria cannot continue to depend entirely on foreign technology to tackle its security challenges, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin has said.
He spoke yesterday at the Nigeria Air Force Research and Development Seminar 2015, with the theme: “Maximising potentials for self-reliance in Nigeria Air Force through innovation and local partnership”.
Olonisakin stressed that the country was endowed with professionals, who were contributing extensively to technology elsewhere in the world.
But he lamented that lack of synergy was responsible for the technological and industrial backwardness the country was experiencing.
The CDS said: “There must be collaboration among the military, academia and of course the technocrats and industrialists to harness our various endowments to push Nigeria forward technologically.”
He reiterated military’s commitment at tackling the security challenges bedeviling the nation, particularly in the Northeast and Southsouth.
Fielding questions from reporters on the fight against insurgency and the December deadline to defeat Boko Haram, he said presently, the military did not have all the required resources.
“That is why we are encouraging research and development, so that we can be self-reliant in our production and in no distance future, we will get there. Research and development is a tripod arrangement: the user, manufacturer and academia.
“The three must synergise. So, we being the users need all the other legs so that we can get the products that are required to prosecute insurgency.
“We will reach out to local manufacturers to make sure that we inculcate them into the whole arrangement.
“We are winning the war against insurgency and we will keep doing that. We are working with timeline and we have our mandate and we are working within our mandate.”
He added: “Funding is usually an issue you have in any project. But if you are determined and focused, you will get along. Research and development is not a one-day issue. It is a gradual issue. So, as the funds come in, we will begin to improve on which ever project we are into.
“Nuclear energy is another form of energy. So, for us as a nation, we have all the institutions that have been put in place by government to develop our nuclear energy. In Obafemi Awolowo University, there is a centre for nuclear development, which is an outlet to make sure that we develop our nuclear capabilities.”
The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar, emphasised that home-based technology was a sure way to acquire immunity against the vagaries of international politics of economy and defence.
The special guest of honour and Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who was represented by his deputy, Barnabas Bala Bantex, lauded security exploits in combating insurgency in the Northeast and security joint efforts against cattle-rustling in the Northwest.
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