50 partners Indicate Interest of Partnership in Defence Production – DG NICON

From Abdullahi Alhassan, Kaduna

The Director General Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DG DICON), Major General. Aniedi Edet, said as at last week, over 50 partners have indicated interest of partnership in defence production.

Edet made the announcement during an engagement with the staff of the DICON in Kaduna.

He said that staff engagement was key to the management of DICON, while reminding the staff of the five management pillars that were key to the corporation.

He listed the pilers to include; business orientation,where the corporation would be run as an enterprise, professionalism which according to him had manifested in many ways to include going back to production which the they were able to achieve.

Major General Edet further mentioned the others to include communication which he lamented that upon his assumption as the DG,there was a breach which he had strived to close the gap.

“We have been communicating to staff, and this engagement has been held in series and stood as routine in the corporation that we have been holding,”.

Edet explained that they have a system in DICON where his position as the DG hold Durban at least once in two months.
Each department, unit and their directors and heads, was expected to do their own meeting, where the heads of the departments do summary of the meeting and send to him.

According to him, those measures were ways of bridging the gap of communication.Equally, the DG said he often visits the factory where staff meet and engage him, while recalling that he had an engagement with staff in the canteen.

“This is not the first time, and this is not going to be the last. We will continue to engage our staff, Speaking further, the DG said they have brought out an innovation to take their communication further.

He disclosed that they would hold a maiden DICON information bulletin which would be published at least quarterly. “I want to launch the first one as early the first week of June. The information bulletin will be collating relevant information from all the departments and put it together to make piece of information that every staff will have it handy,”.

Speaking on staff welfare and building partnership, the DG said it was the whole essence of the engagement, while partnership which was key to upholding the signed act by the President.

He recalled that the President Bola Tinibu signed the DICON act into law in November 2023, where by it virtue, the corporation has been repositioned and mandated to perform much more.

“We have come back with production and so many activities which have attracted so many partners back to us. As at last week, we have over 50 partners who indicated interest of partnership.

“So many of them are bringing in investments, expertise and other directions in the sphere of defence productions. We believe, this is what will turn the fate of our military industrial complex around,”he said.

He stressed that they want to give a good impression to their foreign partners, while frowning against an act which happened about two weeks ago to discourage them.

“Such an act where the public might be misconstrued to see DICON not doing the right thing to do might misinform our partners and these are investments. It might threaten our national security, ” Edet said.

He reassured the staff they DICON would keep and abide by the civil service rules, where any staff who step out of the line would face a committee while those doing very well would be commended.

The DG awards were presented to staff who distinguished themselves during the engagement.