AFRICAN MILITARY AND THE PRODUCTION OF INDIGENOUS WAR EQUIPMENT THE CASE OF THE NIGERIAN ARMY, 2015-2021

Abstract

One important issue that occupies a centre stage in understanding of the international politics in the 21st century has been the development of Science and Technology for production of military hardware among the armed forces of nations. However, in Africa, lack of effective developments in Science and Technology retards the efforts of the military in addressing the numerous security challenges bedevilling the continent. Over reliance on developed nations for the supply of sophisticated weapons to fight organized crimes has always come with so many challenges ranging from high costs of the required War equipment, bureaucratic procedures, transportation to Africa, conspiracy associated with the supply among others. These have made it necessary for some African militaries to change focus from over reliance on the developed nations in the procurement of military hardware to local productions. This article therefore, examines the role of the Nigerian Army in the production of weapons in Nigeria in the fight against insurgency, 2015-2021. The findings prove that African scientists and technologists can make changes in the wrong Eurocentric perceptions that weapons production cannot be possible in Africa. The paper also reveals that the hardware productions at the Command Engineering Depot (formerly, Nigerian Army Workshop) Kaduna and some individual Research and Development (R&D) among the personnel in the Nigerian Army have led to the production of sophisticated weapons tested at the Northeast theartre of war even though, there is the needs for improvement. The paper adopts primary and secondary sources of data collection in historical analysis.