President Tinubu Assents To Defence Corporation Bill

Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assented to the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) Bill, 2023.

The Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria Act, 2023,  empowers the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria to operate, maintain, and control subsidiaries and ordinance factories to manufacture, store, and dispose of ancillary stores and material.

The Act, now Provides a comprehensive regulatory framework for the regulation of the manufacturing, distribution, storage, and disposal of defence articles in Nigeria.

These were made known on Thursday in a statement signed by the President’s Spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale.

The act which repeals the previous iteration of the Defence Industries also Incentivizes the development of a nuanced financing architecture that enables private capital to facilitate research, development, and production in the defence sector in a transparent and predictable fashion.

The Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria Act, 2023 also The Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria Act, 2023 also establishes the Defence Industry Technology, Research, and Development Institute (DITRDI) to create an elaborate scientific and research-based technological foundation for Nigeria’s defence industry through the leveraging of combined, multi-disciplinary research from multiple military research institutes for the application that leads to commercialization and the development of new military technology and capacity in Nigeria.

Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria Bill, 2023, was sponsored by the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Defence, Hon. Babajimi Benson (APC — Ikorodu Federal Constituency)

The Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria was established on August 1, 1964, by an Act of Parliament and revised as the DICON Act in Chapter 94 of the Laws of the Federation, 2004.