Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin has advised commanders of the Armed Force to be innovative in arms production to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on import.

Olonisakin gave the advice at a three-day, 2020 Defence and Security symposium for Senior Course 42, organised by the Armed Forces Command and Staff Collage,(AFCSC) Jaji, on Wednesday in Kaduna.

The symposium has as it’s theme; “Defence Industries Efforts and Counter Insurgency Operations in Nigeria’.

Olonisakin, represented by Director of Training, Defence Headquarters, Rear Admiral Dolapo Kolawole, said the officers should be innovative so that Nigeria could be self sufficient in arms production.

According to him, the armed forces have the capacity to develop basic equipment and military hardware to prosecute the current war on insurgency and counter terrorism.

“I must admit that the theme is apt in view of the plethora of extant and emerging threats to Nigeria’s national security and the efforts of defence and security services in combating it.

“Without doubt, the theme is a reflection of the ongoing transformation efforts in the Armed Forces and the Federal Government’s reforms in the wider security sector.

” These are with a view to reposition defence and security agencies to tackle effectively, the aforementioned security challenges plaguing the nation,” the chief of defence staff said.

He said it was expected that the discourse at the symposium would stimulate ideas to further assist in repositioning the defence and security services for enhanced operational effectiveness in national security.

He commended the College for selecting the theme, as it clearly brought out the importance of capacity building toward solving contemporary security challenges that bedeviled the Nigeria state.

Earlier, the Commandant AFCSC , AVM Abubakar Liman said the symposium was aimed at generating ideas from critical and intuitive minds of the students and discussants to assist in finding solutions to extant and emerging security challenges.

Liman said the federal government over the years has initiated various programmes and initiatives in the defence and security sectors.

“These initiatives have been largely tailored toward enhancing capacity building and professionalism and the fight against terrorism and other counter insurgency operations by the AFN.”

He said the security challenges faced by the AFN have however, compelled the need for further review of the status-quo particularly, in the area of capacity building.

Liman said the staff college, therefore, felt obliged to contribute to the discourse on capacity through the defence industries sector.