Nigeria spent N804.10bn on arms and ammunition imports between 2020 and the second quarter of 2025, according to data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Despite moves by the government to expand domestic production, recent data revealed that the import bill remains on the rise, raising concerns about foreign exchange depletion and national security dependence on external suppliers.

This came as local manufacturers increased the call for deeper collaboration with the country’s Armed Forces for the production of some arms and ammunition domestically, stressing that this would considerably reduce the huge FX spent on arms imports.

Foreign trade data from the NBS showed that in 2020, Nigeria imported arms and ammunition, including parts, worth N29.24bn. The import bill surged to N72.50bn in 2021 before dropping to N28.24bn in 2022. In 2023, imports jumped again to N127.16bn. By 2024, it rose astronomically to N520.02bn, recording the highest importation of arms and ammunition in the five years.

Between January and June 2025, Nigeria imported arms worth N26.95bn, indicating that the upward trend had not abated. Data showed that in the first quarter of 2025, arms and ammunition imports stood at N22.08bn, with an additional N4.87bn imported in the second quarter. This brought the total to N26.95bn in the first half of 2025 alone.

Official data showed the depth of the surge when compared with the corresponding period of 2024. In H1 2024, Nigeria imported N11.76bn worth of arms and ammunition, split between N10.72bn in Q1 and N1.04bn in Q2. But in the second half of 2024, Nigeria imported arms and ammunition worth N508.25bn. Split between the quarters: in Q3 2024, the country imported N24.40bn, and in Q4 2024, it imported arms and ammunition worth N483.85bn

Stakeholders react

Stakeholders say the persistent rise in arms imports proves that Nigeria’s local defence manufacturing capacity has not hit its stride despite government reforms. President Bola Tinubu, in November 2023, signed the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria Act, which repealed previous provisions and sought to create a robust military-industrial complex through research, innovation, and private sector partnerships.

Two years into the implementation of the DICON Act 2023, reforms are off to a slow start. The import figures show that foreign dependence remains dominant.

Industry players, including the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and the National Association of Small-Scale Industrialists, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, argue that heavy imports drain scarce foreign exchange. In separate interviews with The PUNCH, these stakeholders noted that buying weapons abroad often exposes Nigeria to political pressures from supplier countries, a factor that undermines the country’s sovereignty.

Local manufacturers are calling for stronger collaboration with the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria. They insist that without scaling up indigenous production, the country will continue to burn scarce resources on foreign procurements while failing to unlock the economic opportunities in defence manufacturing.

MAN seeks inclusion

The Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, revealed that the body was already engaging DICON to expand local defence production. He said, “We are in talks with DICON. And in MAN, we have members who manufacture military hardware. Collaboration is only a foregone conclusion. It would be nice to see private and public sector partnerships flourish in this regard, because this is a strategic as well as an economic game changer for Nigeria.”

Ajayi-Kadir stressed that DICON, once moribund, had shown renewed dynamism since its revival under the new law. He observed that a functional defence industry would address two strategic concerns: national security and economic stability.

He explained that local arms production would shield the country from external embargoes, strengthen territorial defence against insurgency, and save scarce foreign exchange. “There’s no doubt that investing in local arms and ammunition manufacturing would significantly improve the economy overall, in the sense that it is not only in terms of boosting our security,” he declared.

MAN’s DG added that Nigeria ought to pursue arms self-reliance for external sovereignty and internal security. “There was a time in this country that some modern nations refused to sell arms to us,” Ajayi-Kadir said.

“Self-sufficiency, or reduction in dependence on imported arms, will greatly enhance the capacity to defend the territorial integrity and to protect the lives of citizens, particularly now that we are having insurgency and activities of non-state actors. In terms of securing lives and preserving foreign exchange, local production will greatly help.”

Ajayi-Kadir argued that foreign exchange saved from reducing arms imports could be channelled into raw materials, spare parts, and other productive inputs. He added that indigenisation of defence technology could also position Nigeria as an exporter in the medium term. “It will also be able to get us to innovate in a way that we can have military hardware and technologies that are indigenous to us, which we could even export. It will deepen our economic stability and progression,” he maintained.

NASSI, CPPE speak

The National Vice President of NASSI, Segun Kuti-George, linked the ballooning import bill to weak local research and insufficient industrial participation. He noted that while small-scale players had yet to feature prominently in arms production, they could play a critical role if given access to science-driven innovation.

Kuti-George said, “Arms are generally used for defence. And when you have an excess of it, you export. When you are manufacturing locally, you are saving foreign exchange. God help you if your supplier is a friend of your attacker. Encouraging local manufacturing is very important.”

He urged Nigeria to learn from countries that deliberately invest in research and innovation to address security vulnerabilities. He cited Lithuania’s adoption of drone training from basic school and the emergence of private drone manufacturers in Abuja as examples of what deliberate research could achieve.

“We need to pay more attention to science and research. That is the only way forward. Let’s teach science. Let’s teach research in our universities. Let’s stop all these ideas of people just writing pieces and filing them away. We are living in a practical world now,” NASSI’s VP said.

Kuti-George advised that graduates of engineering and science in Nigeria should be producing machines and prototypes as part of their final projects, rather than submitting theoretical dissertations.

He stressed that linking education to practical research was key to reviving the industrial base. “Where is the machine that you are producing? Are you able to produce a garri frying machine? Are you able to produce something practical? That is the way. We need to do a serious review of our educational system,” he cautioned.

Kuti-George welcomed the government’s recent push on vocational colleges but called for a deeper emphasis on applied research to complement military innovation.

Director of the Centre for Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, affirmed Nigeria’s need to be self-reliant in defence manufacturing and avoid heavy importation of arms and ammunition. He welcomed the local manufacturers’ quest for deepening their partnership with the government as “a very good thing, and it’s something to be commended.”

He emphasised local production as the path to internal security, stating, “Local production is the way to go anytime and any day. It is good for self-reliance and for internal security. When it comes to security matters, the less import-dependent a country is, the better. Look at the biggest or the strongest countries in the world, they don’t rely on imports for their security apparatus or for their security equipment.”

Yusuf concurred with MAN that an increase in local manufacturing of defence equipment would help to reduce forex outflows and ensure sovereignty. “Building our domestic capacity in arms manufacturing helps with retaining foreign exchange and makes us a lot more secure, a lot more confident as a country, so that if we have security challenges, we can handle them by ourselves without depending on third parties.”

He welcomed the revamping of DICON, adding, “Those who moved in the government to set up a Defence Industrial Corporation of Nigeria, in Kaduna, had foresight. They had the foresight, and the whole idea was to ensure that much of our security equipment, arms, and ammunition are produced here.”

“It’s just that we didn’t follow through,” Yusuf noted, and decried the poor management in the past. “Once, we had to depend on a particular country for some arms or aircraft at the peak of the Boko Haram crisis, and they were giving us conditions before they could sell it to us. They gave us all sorts of conditions that were not properly aligned with our security strategy.”

DICON reforms

The Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria was established in 1964. Under the 2023 Act signed by President Tinubu, DICON is repositioned. The new law empowers the state-controlled firm to operate subsidiaries, establish a Defence Industry Technology, Research, and Development Institute, and provide a financing architecture to attract private capital into the sector.

Following President Tinubu’s assent, DICON signed memoranda of understanding with several firms in 2024, including X-Shield Solution Company Limited, Buckler Systems Limited, and Epsilon Bronberg Innovation Limited. The agreements were designed to build a military-industrial complex through public-private partnerships.

In July 2025, DICON announced a $2bn partnership with SP Offshore Nigeria Limited to expand local manufacturing of defence hardware.  Director-General of DICON, Major General Babatunde Alaya, said the partnership aligned with the government’s projection to achieve self-sufficiency in defence manufacturing by 2027. “This partnership will achieve the Federal Government’s projection of achieving self-sufficiency in defence manufacturing while reducing foreign importation by the year 2027,” he stated.

Similarly, the Managing Director of DICON Grey Insignia, Bem Garba, reportedly affirmed that the new law would directly impact the naira by reducing dollar demand for arms imports. “By localising production, we can retain more of our FX reserves and reduce the demand for dollars in the defence sector, easing pressure on the exchange rate. As the industry matures, Nigeria can position itself as a regional defence supplier, earning FX through exports,” he said.

Balancing security

Stakeholders argue that local defence manufacturing is not merely an economic policy but also a strategic necessity. With insecurity ranging from insurgency in the North-East to banditry in the North-West and kidnapping in the South, these stakeholders have cautioned that dependence on foreign arms is a dangerous liability.

Ajayi-Kadir warned that the country’s fragile foreign reserves should not be further eroded by massive import bills. He said, “We have scarce resources that we should have used to buy raw materials, spare parts, and machines that are not available locally for production, but we end up using them to buy ammunition. I believe this is both for a strategic purpose as well as for economic purposes.”

Kuti-George also emphasised that the more Nigeria invests in local innovation, the more it could reduce reliance on hostile suppliers. “If your supplier is a friend of your attacker, it now becomes an issue of who is the highest bidder. So, encouraging local manufacturing is very important,” he said.

Experts say the path to a self-sufficient defence industry will require more than legislation. The local defence industry needs stronger funding for research, stronger collaboration with private manufacturers, and reforms in science education.

For MAN, the next step is a deeper integration of its members into DICON’s supply chain. For NASSI, the priority is building a pipeline of innovators through vocational and research-based education. For DICON, it is expanding partnerships and ensuring that promised targets, such as the 2027 self-sufficiency goal, are met.

punch.ng

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