The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has said that all efforts should be made to reduce the importation of military hardware into the country.

Speaking at the 45th Convocation Ceremony of the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) on Friday in Kaduna, the Minister observed that it is a sad situation what Nigeria was confronted with in the peak of insurgency in the North East when the country could not buy weapons even which cash.

The Minister, who described the situation as embarrassing said a resource rich country like Nigeria should be able to secure herself.

While commending the NAF in achieving the victory the nation has recorded in bringing the insurgency in the North East effectively under control, he assured that his ministry will continue to encourage research and innovation aimed at closing all technological gaps in the country.

He added, "Every effort to should be made to reduce the importation the of military hardware into the country, we should rely more on ourselves, our aim should be to work very hard so that one day we will be in a position to manufacture locally most, if not all our needs.

"Nigeria can no longer continue to import virtually everything we need. We cannot continue to be mere consumers of the things we need. The time has come for us to produce locally many of the things we need we must encourage not only to meet our needs, but also to export the surplus to other countries as this will assist in job and wealth creation as well as poverty reduction.

He emphasized that it is only when Nigeria patronized locally made goods and services that manufacturers through additional research and innovation improve on the quality of their products.

He stressed that President Muhammadu Buhari is working hard to fulfill his promises to the Nation saying, "Nigeria is gradually moving from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based innovation-driven economy."

He applauded the ingenuity, hardwork and dedication of the management, lecturers and the entire staff of AFIT which he said helped the institution to be what it is now.

The Provost of the institute, Professor Emmanuel Ezugwu said 451 students from 16 programmes are graduating from the college.

He said the graduating students include 166 NAF, two Nigerian Army, eight Nigerian Navy, 110 civilians and four students from the Ghanian Armed force adding that, 36 out of the students are female.

He reminded the graduates to bear in mind that their time which is generally limited has just started saying "Do not waste time living someone else's dream, but think outside the box and see the thing you can do your self, do not led the noise of outer drowners."

He added, "The quality of teaching, learning and research has improved in AFIT that is why the institution is to be registered as an International Civil Aviation Centre."

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/importation-of-military-hardware-into-nigeria-must-be-reduced-minister/157237.html


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