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State defence industry to make heavy weapons

    ABIDJAN

    State-owned Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) plans to start manufacturing heavy weapons soon, ‘The Guardian’ daily reported on Wednesday, quoting the chairman of the company’s board, Rtd Brig-Gen Mohammed Marwa.

    According to the Lagos newspaper, Marwa said DICON would start manufacturing such weapons, including mortars and missiles, when an ongoing rehabilitation of the state company was completed. He said the corporation’s priority was to shift from outmoded to modern weapons.

    ‘The Guardian’ reported Marwa as saying that DICON intended to use the experience and knowledge of Nigerian weapons experts at home and abroad to attain its objectives. DICON, set up in the 1960s, has been producing small arms and light weapons. According to Marwa, it failed to become a major arms exporter because of neglect by previous administrations, which was now being redressed by President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government, the report said.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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