Oru Leonard
The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to modernising the nation’s Armed Forces through strategic international partnerships, technology transfer, local capacity development and sustainable defence industrial cooperation.
The Minister of Defence, Christopher Gwabin Musa, stated this during a working visit to Monaco alongside senior officials of the Ministry of Defence.
According to the Minister, the visit was part of ongoing engagements with MARSS UK Ltd and its Nigerian partner, MPS Mikopowers Ltd, on the implementation of the proposed Multi-domain Hybrid Intelligence Shield (HIS) project for the Ministry of Defence.
The engagements focused on practical demonstrations, technical sessions and strategic discussions aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s national defence architecture through advanced command, control, surveillance and integrated security technologies.
Musa stressed the importance of building indigenous operational capacity while leveraging international expertise to tackle emerging security challenges such as terrorism, border insecurity, illegal mining, piracy and threats posed by unmanned aerial systems.
He noted that the Ministry of Defence remains the strategic brain behind Nigeria’s defence architecture and must continue to embrace modern technology for intelligence gathering, surveillance and operational efficiency.
“We must therefore leverage technology for intelligence, surveillance and recurring service. We have partners and allies ready to support us. We will reach out to them to work as a team,” he said.
During the visit, the Nigerian delegation witnessed live operational demonstrations of radar detection systems, artificial intelligence-enabled threat identification platforms, drone interception capabilities and integrated national command-and-control solutions.
The discussions also covered plans for the establishment of national and regional command centres, mobile response units and a Centre of Excellence for simulation, training and doctrine development.
The Ministry said the visit further provided an opportunity to deepen discussions on defence industry collaboration, local production support, technology integration and long-term partnerships between Nigerian defence institutions and international stakeholders.
According to the Ministry, the engagements are expected to strengthen Nigeria’s efforts toward improving national security, enhancing inter-agency coordination and advancing the country’s defence modernisation objectives.
The working visit forms part of Nigeria’s broader defence diplomacy and strategic engagement initiatives aimed at promoting regional stability, operational effectiveness and national resilience amid evolving global security challenges.
Officials of MARSS UK Ltd and MPS Mikopowers Ltd received the delegation and conducted detailed presentations and live demonstrations of the NiDAR integrated command-and-control system, anti-drone technologies, mobile surveillance platforms and border security solutions designed to strengthen Nigeria’s defence and security capabilities.
