Army needs N1b to boost combat vehicle manufacturing coy – Buratai

The Nigerian Army is sourcing for N1b to boost capacity of its vehicle manufacturing company to produce more combat vehicles to counter terrorists and other insurgents, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai has said.

Nigeria has recently been bedeviled by different forms of insurgencies— Boko Haram, kidnapping, armed banditry, armed robbery and cattle rustling.

But demonstration of locally made bullet proof ballistic vest, NA Armoured Light Tactical Vehicle and mine sweeper produced by the Nigerian Army Vehicle Manufacturing Company (NAVMC) showed that the military will soon be better equipped to stem the challenge.

In his address at the closing ceremony of the Nigerian Army Combat Arms Training Week, yesterday, at the shooting range of Nigerian Army Infantry Corp, Jaji, Buratai noted that Nigerian Army’s new inventions and acquisitions are force multipliers, hence the fund will improve the equipping and capacity of the Army.

He said: “The innovations by the Nigerian Army in the areas of equipment production, localising and reviving abandoned vehicles and equipment is another major achievement that we recorded.

“The Group Managing Director of NAVMC has promised that in the next three to four months, we should have brand new vehicles originally produced by the Nigerian Army, and the general public that may find it useful, especially the paramilitary agencies. This, we believe, will transform the Nigerian Army and Nigerian industrial companies, when we start mass production…”
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