Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai disclosed this at the closing ceremony of the Nigerian Army Combat Arms Training Week on Saturday at the shooting range of Nigerian Army Infantry Corp, Jaji.
The Army Chief said;
We are already sourcing for the sum of N1billion to support the Nigerian Army Vehicle Manufacturing Company. We a have a number of investments in the Army that have been generating huge amount of money and we will take a loan from there to support Nigerian Army Vehicle Manufacturing Company to realize our dream of producing indigenous armoured fighting vehicles and to continue to maintain our existing equipment.
“Military equipment are never obsolete, with maintenance culture of the military globally, vehicles and equipment of the Second World War are still useful in other parts of the world. The firepower demonstration today is the last activity of the combined Combat Arms Training Week (CATWEEK) and the Chief of Army Staff 1st Quarter Conference.
“This Conference has brought us together to assess what we have so far achieved in the the first quarter of 2019,” the COAS added.
Nigeria has recently been bedeviled by different forms of insurgencies; Boko Haram, kidnapping, armed banditry, armed robbery and cattle rustling. But demonstration of locally made bullet proof ballistic vest, NA Armoured Light Tactical Vehicle and mine sweeper produced by the Nigerian Army Vehicle Manufacturing Company (NAVMC) showed that the military will soon be better equipped to stem the challenge.