The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has said it is awaiting presidential order to mass produce guns and other weapons for the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
The executive vice chairman/CEO of NASENI, Prof. Muhammad Haruna, disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Faruk Yahaya at the Army headquarters in Abuja.
He said, “NASENI is currently collaborating with some indigenous research Institutions and Industries; one of which is the Nigerian Machine Tools (NMT) Osogbo. NASENI, NMT and Nigerian Army Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering jointly produced 12.7mm AA Gun through reverse engineering.
“On the international scene, NASENI has identified some potential partners in the development and production of small arms and light weapons, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), Airboat, MRAPS, APCS and light aircraft (fixed wing and rotary wing).
“We are doing certain things already and this has presidential order and institutional framework to see that this is well coordinated and presented. The Nigerian Army has seen what we have produced for them before, tested and commented. Now it has presidential directives that their requirement as much as possible should come from the country.
“We are hopeful of a presidential intervention to mass produce the guns for the armed forces. With this achievement, I am hopeful that we would be able to revisit our MOU discussions on local production of weapons and MRAPs,” he said.
He said the government hopes that based on directive, the defense sector would look inward for the equipment and component, military accessories they need for their operation to come from within the country.
In his remarks, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya expressed support and encouragement for the engineering and technological efforts of NASENI towards developing and producing military hardware in the country.
