Nigeria and Türkiye have renewed their commitment to strengthening cooperation in the defence industry, with both countries targeting increased investment, innovation, technology transfer and joint production to build sustainable defence capabilities.
The commitment was made on Wednesday at the 7th Nigeria–Türkiye Defence Industry Business Forum held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, where senior government officials and defence industry stakeholders from both countries explored opportunities for deeper industrial collaboration.
The Honourable Minister of Defence, General Christopher Gwabin Musa (Rtd), said Nigeria was seeking to transform its longstanding defence relationship with Türkiye from a predominantly buyer-seller arrangement into a balanced partnership driven by local manufacturing, joint production, research and development, technology transfer and skills development.
“Our objective should be to translate our longstanding bilateral cooperation into practical industrial partnerships, sustainable investments, technology-driven collaboration and enduring defence capabilities,” General Musa said.
He said Nigeria attached great importance to its defence relationship with Türkiye, noting that cooperation between both countries had expanded over the years from military-to-military engagements to defence equipment acquisition, training, technical assistance and defence industry cooperation.
According to him, the 7th Nigeria–Türkiye Defence Industry Business Forum provides an opportunity to take the relationship to the next level by converting existing bilateral cooperation into practical industrial partnerships and sustainable investments.
“We must therefore progressively move beyond a predominantly buyer–seller relationship towards a more balanced and mutually beneficial partnership founded on joint production, local manufacturing, technology transfer, research and development, maintenance, repair and overhaul, skills development and sustainable industrial cooperation,” he said.
General Musa said the Federal Government remained committed to building a strong, self-reliant and globally competitive defence industrial base, stressing that the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) Act 2023 provides an important framework for achieving the objective.
He said Nigeria’s ambition goes beyond meeting its immediate defence requirements, as the country seeks to establish an industrial ecosystem capable of positioning it as a competitive defence manufacturing hub in Africa.
“Our ambition goes beyond meeting Nigeria’s immediate defence requirements. We seek to develop an industrial ecosystem capable of positioning Nigeria as a competitive defence manufacturing hub in Africa,” the minister said.
He explained that the initiative would create quality employment, develop highly skilled Nigerian professionals, strengthen domestic supply chains, promote innovation and contribute to national security and economic development.
The minister also stressed the importance of innovation and emerging technologies in strengthening Nigeria’s defence capabilities, citing unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, advanced communications, cyber capabilities, precision systems and surveillance technologies among areas increasingly shaping modern warfare.
“Nigeria must therefore build the capacity not only to acquire such capabilities, but also to understand, adapt, manufacture, maintain and continuously improve them,” General Musa said.
He identified Türkiye’s emergence as a major and increasingly self-reliant defence industrial power as a valuable example for Nigeria, saying the country’s experience demonstrated the importance of sustained government commitment, research and development, innovation, private-sector participation and collaboration between government, the military, academia and industry.
“Nigeria therefore views the Turkish defence industry not merely as a source of equipment, but as a strategic partner in our defence industrialisation journey,” he said.
General Musa urged Nigerian and Turkish companies to use the forum to identify commercially viable and technologically meaningful areas of cooperation, with clearly defined objectives, timelines, investment commitments, production arrangements and measurable outcomes.
He said Nigeria was open to credible partnerships in joint ventures, co-production, technology licensing and transfer, local manufacturing and assembly, component production, maintenance, repair and overhaul, research and development, training and defence supply-chain integration.
The minister emphasised that technology transfer and local capacity development must remain central to the partnership.
“The ultimate measure of success should not simply be the delivery of a platform or system, but the extent to which Nigerian personnel, institutions and industries acquire the knowledge and capabilities to sustain and further develop that capability,” he said.
Also speaking, the Honourable Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Bello Mohammed Matawalle, MON, said the forum was taking place at a critical point in Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen its defence-industrial capability and deepen its strategic partnership with Türkiye.
Matawalle said the engagement had brought together government, defence institutions, investors and technology partners from both countries to explore practical opportunities for investment, local production, innovation and long-term industrial cooperation.
“For Nigeria, the central objective is to develop a defence industry that is increasingly capable of meeting the requirements of our Armed Forces, while contributing to national industrial and economic development,” he said.
He noted that while the DICON Act 2023 provides a framework for strengthening local production, encouraging private-sector participation and facilitating strategic partnerships, the priority should be to translate the policy and legislative framework into actual industrial capability.
“The real opportunity lies in translating this policy and legislative framework into actual industrial capability. That is why this Forum is particularly important,” Matawalle said.
He encouraged Nigerian and Turkish stakeholders to explore practical models for joint production, technology licensing, co-development and localisation.
The Minister of State expressed confidence that the forum’s discussions, presentations and business-to-business engagements would establish a new phase in Nigeria–Türkiye defence-industrial cooperation.
“I am confident that the discussions, presentations and B2B engagements during this Forum will open a new chapter in Nigeria–Türkiye defence-industrial cooperation; one defined by mutual investment, meaningful technology transfer, joint production, innovation and enduring strategic value,” he said.
On the Turkish side, Deputy Minister of Defence Gökhan Uçar said the successful conclusion of the 7th Nigeria–Türkiye Defence Industries Cooperation Meeting had created a strong basis for expanding cooperation between both countries.
Uçar said the business forum could serve as a platform for bringing Nigerian and Turkish defence companies together to develop practical areas of collaboration.
“I believe today’s Nigeria–Türkiye Defence Industry Business Forum could start a new chapter in our relations by bringing our companies together,” he said.
He said participants would examine the strategic defence partnership through the lens of defence industrialisation, with subsequent discussions focusing on joint production, technology transfer, localisation and Nigeria’s regulatory and investment framework for strategic partnerships.
Uçar added that the participating companies would engage in business-to-business meetings based on their profiles and areas of interest.
Meanwhile, the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), in its goodwill message at the Nigeria–Türkiye Staff Talks, called for the outcomes of the engagement to translate into concrete industrial programmes.
DICON said recent security developments around the world had reinforced the need for nations to develop the capacity to produce, sustain, repair, adapt and innovate.
“A nation’s defence strength is not measured only by the equipment it acquires, but increasingly by its capacity to produce, sustain, repair, adapt and innovate,” the corporation said.
It said the Federal Government, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, was repositioning DICON as a strategic instrument for defence industrialisation through renewed government support and implementation of the DICON Act 2023.
DICON said Nigeria–Türkiye cooperation should go beyond equipment procurement to establish productive partnerships combining Turkish experience and technology with Nigeria’s market, human capital and industrial potential.
“The real value lies in building productive partnerships that combine Turkish experience and technology with Nigeria’s market, human capital and industrial potential,” it said.
The corporation urged stakeholders to ensure that the Staff Talks produced actionable programmes, identifiable projects, technology partnerships, production lines, maintenance capabilities and skills development, rather than ending with communiqués and expressions of goodwill.
DICON reaffirmed its readiness to serve as a platform for collaboration among government, the Armed Forces, industry, innovators and international partners.
It said the Staff Talks should mark “another step towards building, producing and innovating together,” as Nigeria and Türkiye seek to establish a stronger and more sustainable defence-industrial partnership.
