{"id":12379,"date":"2026-11-08T11:16:01","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T11:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/08\/military-hardware-manufacturer-seeks-dedicated-funding\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T11:16:01","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T11:16:01","slug":"military-hardware-manufacturer-seeks-dedicated-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/08\/military-hardware-manufacturer-seeks-dedicated-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Military hardware: Manufacturer seeks dedicated funding"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img width=\"720\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Military-hardware-Manufacturer-seeks-dedicated-funding.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Military hardware: Manufacturer seeks dedicated funding\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Military-hardware-Manufacturer-seeks-dedicated-funding.jpg 720w, https:\/\/cdn.vanguardngr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/military-300x225.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Chairman\/CEO of EPAIL Nigeria, Kola Balogun, has called for dedicated government funding and stronger regulatory frameworks to accelerate Nigeria\u2019s indigenous defence manufacturing industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Balogun said sustainable development of the industry required deliberate government intervention, structured research funding and effective regulation of local manufacturers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He made the call in an interview with Newsman on the just-concluded Africa International Defence Exhibition (AFRIDEX) 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said Nigeria needed a strong regulatory institution to establish standards, monitor research activities and ensure accountability in the utilisation of funds allocated to defence manufacturing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to him, government funding should be directed towards clearly identified research priorities and solutions to the country\u2019s peculiar security challenges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe should not merely make budgetary provisions for defence manufacturing without clearly identifying the projects, research priorities and expected outcomes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGovernment funding must be purposeful, dedicated and properly monitored.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Balogun argued that competition among indigenous manufacturers should be driven by government-funded research and innovation rather than unhealthy commercial rivalry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said the government could identify specific security challenges and invite local manufacturers to develop competing technological solutions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor instance, imagine a situation where we want to detect any object approaching our borders within a specified distance and automatically raise an alarm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat should become a research challenge for indigenous defence manufacturers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He explained that manufacturers could receive initial funding to develop different solutions, after which the government would assess the proposals and support the most promising innovations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The EPAIL boss also advocated the establishment of defence industry incubation centres to provide platforms for researchers, engineers and manufacturers to develop and test innovative ideas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIncubation centres are important because that is where research and innovation can take place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey provide a clustered environment where individuals, researchers, engineers and companies can bring forward ideas, collaborate and conduct small-scale experiments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Balogun said the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) and other relevant institutions should play leading roles in developing such innovation platforms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He stressed that effective regulation was equally necessary to control the production, distribution and sale of sensitive military equipment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to him, manufacturers must know their end-users to prevent sensitive equipment from falling into the wrong hands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere must be proper knowledge of the end-users to ensure that such equipment does not fall into the wrong hands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Balogun added that a properly regulated defence industry would create a pathway for indigenous manufacturers to grow, attract investment and contribute more meaningfully to national security.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said the successful development of Nigeria\u2019s defence industry required sustained government commitment, strategic investment and an enabling environment for local innovation.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/2026\/11\/military-hardware-manufacturer-seeks-dedicated-funding\/\">Military hardware: Manufacturer seeks dedicated funding<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/\">Vanguard News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Source: <\/p>\n<div class=\"nSourse\">Vanguard News<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chairman\/CEO of EPAIL Nigeria, Kola Balogun, has called for dedicated government funding and stronger regulatory frameworks to accelerate Nigeria\u2019s indigenous defence manufacturing industry. Balogun said sustainable development of the&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}