Giant Strides: Chief Of Defence Staff Lauds DICON Management

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By; ISAAC ODEH, Kaduna.
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Gabriel Olonisakin has lauded the effort of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) management team in the last one year for taking giant strides in its collaborative efforts  with both foreign and indigenous defence related industries  (DRIS) aimed at repositioning the corporation for better service delivery .
The  CDS made the remake during the commissioning of some notable projects completed within the last one year both at the headquarters and ordnance factory, saying that he is quite optimistic that by the time most of those collaborative efforts were concluded, every well meaning Nigerian would no doubt be proud of the corporation
He said that he had always emphasized that DICON needed to brace up for the challenges of making the nation proud despite seemingly difficult situations brought about by current economic realities
‘’Concerning the projects commissioned today, I am happy that DICON Management is aware of  the need to revamp and solidify the foundation aspect of the production process. I can see that reasonable efforts have been put in place to ensure that production lines and technical staff are ready to commence production as soon as raw Materials are available’’ he said.
He further said that he was quite delighted that the welfare  of DICON personnel has been given priority attention and that there was the need to win the hearts and minds of the personnel of the corporation, saying that this will increase their workforce in order to get the desired maximum inputs from them.
 
He therefore charged the director general of DICON, Major-General  Bamidele Ogunkale to keep the flag of excellent track record noticed within the last one year in office flying,advising him not to rest on his oars because there is still much to do.
On the political will to reposition DICON to a greater height by the president Buhari, the Chief of Defence Staff, Said that Buhari had rolled out his vision concerning the corporation when he directed that the ministry of defence should urgently articulate a proposal for the establishment of military industrial complex (MIC) to produce weapons and other equipment for the country’s  Armed Forces to reduce reliance on reluctant foreign Suppliers.
The Chief of Defence staff in line with strategic directive.of the president Buhari restated his commitment to support DICON by continuing to do the needful in order to ensure that the cooperation meets the goals and objectives of the founding fathers, and ministries department and agencies are fully in support of Mr. President’s position as it affects DICON.
 
Earlier, the Director –General of DICON’ Major-General Bamidele Ogunkale noted that the corporation was once lauded for living up to the mandate of the founding fathers especially during the Nigerian civil war but witnessed a sharp  decline over the years adding that the poor output has been attributed to inadequate funding by successive governments law patronage, lack of political will among others.    
According to the DG, the turn-around story of DICON could be traced to the political will of Mr President who directed the ministry of defence to urgently articulate a proposal for the establishment of the military industrial Complex (MIC ), stressing that there had been positive responses to Buhari directives by the ministry of Defense and Defense Headquarters.
 

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