President Bola Tinubu has assented to the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) Bill, 2023.
The high point of the bill, according to a statement today, November 23, from the Presidency, is the establishment of Defence Industry Technology Research, and Development Institute (DITRDI).
Another high point is the empowerment of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) to operate, maintain and control subsidiaries and ordnance factories to manufacture, store, and dispose of ordnance and ancillary stores and material.
The establishment of the Defence Industry Technology, Research, and Development Institute is aimed at creating an elaborate scientific and research-based technological foundation for Nigeria’s defence industry through the leveraging of combined, multi-disciplinary research from multiple military research institutes for application that will lead to commercialization and the development of new military technology and capacity in Nigeria.
It is also to provide a comprehensive regulatory framework for the regulation of the manufacturing, distribution, storage, and disposal of defence articles in Nigeria.
The Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria Act, 2023, which repealed the previous iteration of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria Act, also empowers the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria to incentivize the development of a nuanced financing architecture that will enable private capital to facilitate research, development and production in the defence sector in a transparent and predictable fashion.
The Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria was established on August 1, 1964, by an Act of Parliament and was revised as the DICON Act in Chapter 94 of the Laws of the Federation, 2004.
The new Bill was sponsored by the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Defence, Babajimi Benson (APC — Ikorodu Federal Constituency).
