Nigeria, Türkiye Deepen Defence Ties as FG Pushes Joint Production, Technology Transfer

By Emmanuel Kwada

Nigeria and Türkiye are moving to deepen defence-industrial cooperation, with the Federal Government pushing for joint production, technology transfer and local manufacturing as part of efforts to build a self-reliant defence industry.

Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (Rtd.), said Nigeria was determined to develop a strong, self-reliant and globally competitive defence industrial base capable of supporting the country’s security needs while contributing to wider economic development.

Musa spoke on Wednesday at the 7th Nigeria–Türkiye Defence Industry Business Forum held at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.

He said the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) Act 2023 had provided an important legal and institutional foundation for expanding local defence production and creating opportunities for private-sector participation, strategic investments, technology transfer and partnerships with reputable international manufacturers.

According to the minister, Nigeria’s ambition goes beyond acquiring military equipment.

“Our ambition goes beyond meeting Nigeria’s immediate defence requirements. We seek to develop an industrial ecosystem capable of positioning Nigeria as a competitive defence manufacturing hub in Africa,” he said.

Musa said such an ecosystem would create quality employment, develop highly skilled Nigerian professionals, strengthen domestic supply chains, encourage innovation and contribute to national security and economic growth.

He urged both countries to transform their longstanding bilateral relationship into practical industrial partnerships, sustainable investments and technology-driven cooperation.

The minister called for a gradual shift from what he described as a predominantly buyer-seller relationship towards a more balanced partnership built around joint production, local manufacturing, technology transfer, research and development, maintenance, repair and overhaul, skills development and sustainable industrial cooperation.

He stressed that Nigeria must develop the capacity not only to acquire modern defence technologies but also to understand, adapt, manufacture, maintain and improve them locally.

“This requires strong partnerships between government, the Armed Forces, research institutions, academia and industry, supported by sustained investment in innovation and human capital,” Musa said.

The minister also pointed to the rapidly changing nature of global security, noting that contemporary conflicts were increasingly shaped by technologies such as unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, advanced communications, cyber capabilities, precision systems, surveillance technologies and space-based assets.

The Head of the Turkish Defence Delegation, Gokman Ucar, said the forum could open a new chapter in the Nigeria–Türkiye defence relationship by bringing companies from both countries together to explore practical areas of cooperation.

Ucar said discussions would focus particularly on joint production, technology transfer and localisation.

He said Türkiye was interested in examining the broader strategic defence partnership while also understanding Nigeria’s regulatory and investment environment for establishing long-term industrial partnerships.

Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Bello Matawalle, said the DICON Act 2023 had created a framework for strengthening local production, encouraging private-sector participation and facilitating strategic partnerships.

Matawalle urged stakeholders to use the forum to identify practical investment opportunities and develop models for joint production, technology licensing, co-development and localisation.

Earlier, the Director-General of DICON, Major-General Babatunde Alaya, said the corporation was expanding its mandate beyond traditional defence production to develop an integrated ecosystem driven by innovation, research, private-sector participation, technology transfer, partnerships and indigenous manufacturing.

Alaya said cooperation with Türkiye presented opportunities that extended beyond the procurement of military equipment.

“The real value lies in building productive partnerships that combine Turkish experience and technology with Nigeria’s market, human capital and industrial potential,” he said.

He said the ultimate objective should be to build Nigeria’s defence production resilience by enabling the country to increasingly meet its own defence requirements, withstand disruptions in external supply chains and progressively develop indigenous technological and industrial capabilities.

The forum therefore represents a renewed push by both countries to translate their defence relationship into industrial cooperation, with local production and technology transfer placed at the centre of Nigeria’s long-term strategy for defence self-reliance.