Abuja, Nov. 24, 2023 – President Bola Tinubu has signed the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) Bill 2023 into law.
Ajuri Ngelale, the Presidential Spokesman, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.
The new Act repeals the previous Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria Act of 2004.
The DICON Act, 2023 empowers the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria to “Operate, maintain, and control subsidiaries and ordnance factories to manufacture, store, and dispose of ordnance and ancillary stores and materials.
It also empowers the corporation to “Establish 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 application that leads to commercialization and the development of new military technology and capacity in Nigeria.
The Act also provides a comprehensive regulatory framework for the regulation of the manufacturing, distribution, storage, and disposal of defence articles in Nigeria.
It 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 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. (GBN)
