Matawalle woos international defence corporations to spice up Nigeria’s army manufacturing

The Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, has held talks with native and worldwide defence trade leaders as Nigeria seeks to strengthen indigenous army manufacturing and purchase superior safety applied sciences.

Matawalle held the conferences on Tuesday, the second day of the Africa International Defence Exhibition 2026, at Eko Atlantic, Lagos.

The engagements introduced collectively authorities representatives, defence producers and worldwide delegations to discover partnerships and promote technological growth in Nigeria’s defence sector.

According to an announcement signed by his Personal Assistant, Ahmad Dan-Wudil, the minister met with Türkiye’s Deputy Minister of Defence, Musa Heybet, and General Jeanne of France’s Direction générale de l’armement, the French company chargeable for defence procurement and expertise.

He additionally met the Chief Executive Officer of DICON-D7G, Osman Chennar; the Group Chief Executive Officer of the SPO-DICON three way partnership, Obafemi Adekunle; and Azercosmos Sales Manager for West Africa, Nijat Heybatov, amongst different trade representatives.

Beyond the conferences, Matawalle toured exhibition stands displaying defence gear, surveillance programs and rising applied sciences from Nigeria and different international locations.

The exhibitors included DICON-D7G, EPAIL-Nigeria, UAS-Briech, Türkiye’s Secretariat of Defence Industries and China’s Poly Technologies Inc.

The minister additionally visited the stands of defence expertise corporations, together with Aselsan, Havelsan, MKE, Sky-DAGGER, Rovin-Guard, NORINCO, Resource Industries, Jeil Industrial of South Korea and Vanquish-Nigeria.

Others have been NIGUS Tactical Systems and the Nigerian Army Research, Development and Innovation unit.

The applied sciences on show lined army {hardware}, unmanned aerial programs, tactical mini-drones, surveillance gear and cybersecurity options.

The exhibition comes amid efforts to broaden Nigeria’s home defence manufacturing capability, scale back reliance on overseas suppliers and strengthen the nation’s skill to reply to evolving safety threats.

AFRIDEX 2026 is being hosted by the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria in collaboration with DMG Events UK beneath the patronage of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The four-day exhibition, which started on 26 October, is predicted to finish on Thursday, 29 October.

It has attracted defence and safety stakeholders from Africa and different components of the world to showcase rising applied sciences, alternate experience and discover alternatives for industrial collaboration.

The assertion stated Matawalle would proceed participating exhibitors and native and worldwide stakeholders because the exhibition approaches its conclusion.

The exhibition is predicted to supply alternatives for partnerships in analysis, expertise switch and native defence manufacturing, whereas supporting Nigeria’s ambition to develop a extra self-reliant defence trade.

However, the long-term impression of the engagements will rely upon how successfully discussions on the exhibition translate into concrete agreements, expertise growth and elevated home manufacturing capability.