The Honourable Minister of Defence, General Christopher Gwabin Musa (Rtd), OFR, has reaffirmed the Federal Government’s determination to modernise the Armed Forces of Nigeria through strategic international partnerships, local capacity development, technology transfer and sustainable defence industrial cooperation.
General Musa made this known during a high-level working visit to Monaco alongside senior officials of the Ministry of Defence, as part of ongoing engagements on the proposed Multi-domain Hybrid Intelligence Shield (HIS) Project being developed in collaboration with MARSS UK Ltd and its Nigerian partner, MPS Mikopowers Ltd.
The visit focused on practical demonstrations, technical evaluations and strategic discussions aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s defence architecture with advanced command, control, surveillance and integrated security systems.
The Defence Minister stressed the urgent need for Nigeria to build indigenous operational capacity while leveraging cutting-edge global expertise to confront emerging security threats, including terrorism, border crimes, illegal mining, piracy and the growing dangers posed by unmanned aerial systems.
According to him, the Ministry of Defence remains the strategic nerve centre of the nation’s security framework and must fully embrace technology-driven intelligence, surveillance and response systems to stay ahead of evolving threats.
“We must maximise technology for intelligence, surveillance and rapid response operations. Nigeria has dependable partners and allies willing to support our security objectives, and we are committed to working together to strengthen national defence capabilities,” he stated.
During the engagements, the Nigerian delegation witnessed live operational demonstrations of advanced radar detection systems, artificial intelligence-enabled threat identification platforms, anti-drone interception technologies and integrated national command-and-control solutions.
Discussions also covered proposals for the establishment of national and regional command centres, mobile rapid-response units, as well as a Centre of Excellence dedicated to simulation, training and doctrine development.
The visit further opened talks on long-term defence industry collaboration, local production support, technology integration and sustainable partnership frameworks between Nigerian defence institutions and international stakeholders.
Officials of MARSS UK Ltd and MPS Mikopowers Ltd conducted detailed presentations and live demonstrations of the NiDAR integrated command-and-control system, mobile surveillance platforms, anti-drone technologies and border security solutions tailored to strengthen Nigeria’s national security operations.
The Ministry noted that the engagements are expected to deepen inter-agency coordination, boost operational effectiveness and accelerate Nigeria’s broader defence modernisation agenda as the country intensifies efforts to build a more resilient and technology-driven security architecture.
