Nigeria to start domestic weapons production

President Muhammadu Buhari had said Nigeria plans to ramp up the domestic production of weapons for its armed forces, in an effort to cut the country's dependence on imported arms."The Ministry of Defence is being tasked to draw up clear and measurable outlines for development of a modest military industrial complex for Nigeria," Buhari said during a speech at the National Defence College in the capital Abuja on Friday.

President Buhari said he wanted an overhaul of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), a military division responsible for weapons production which was set up in 1964 but has fallen into decline.

Buhari's spokesman Garba Shehu said the division's factory in the northern city of Kaduna now mainly produces rifles and civilian tools, adding that defence chiefs had been asked to "re-engineer" DICON.

"We must evolve viable mechanisms for near self-sufficiency in military equipment and logistics production complemented only by very advanced foreign technologies," said Buhari, a former military ruler.