The 8th edition of the Nigeria International Security Exhibition and Conference (NISECEXPO) opened on Monday in Abuja, signalling a distinct shift in Nigeria’s defence posture—from a net importer of hardware to a developing hub for local manufacturing and asymmetric warfare capabilities.
Running from December 8–10, 2025, this year’s exhibition is themed “Future Wars: Operational Resilience and Force Build-Up Capabilities.” The event has drawn delegates from over 50 countries, including policymakers, private-sector innovators, and military leadership, to address the convergence of conventional defence needs with emerging threats in the cyber and autonomous domains.
A New Industrial Mandate
Opening the plenary sessions on December 8, Major General Babatunde Ibrahim Alaya, Director General of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), emphasised the urgency of industrial self-reliance. Speaking on “Driving National Security Through Local Production of Military Equipment,” Alaya outlined DICON’s accelerated roadmap to domesticate the production of critical munitions and platforms.
This focus aligns with the recent enactment of the DICON Act 2023, which empowers the corporation to regulate the defence industrial sector and foster public-private partnerships. The goal is to reduce capital flight and mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities exposed by global geopolitical shifts.
General Christopher Gwabin Musa, recently appointed Minister of Defence, reinforced this message in his address on “Future Wars: Building Africa’s Defence Production Capabilities.” Represented at the event, General Musa argued that government policy must now aggressively incentivise the local manufacturing sector to move beyond basic assembly and into the fabrication of complex systems required for modern combat.
Multi-Domain Operations and Asymmetric Threats
The shifting character of warfare was a central theme for the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Olufemi Oluyede. In his keynote on “Strengthening Military Operations Through Joint Command and Multi-Domain Platforms,” General Oluyede highlighted that the Nigerian Armed Forces are transitioning toward a fully integrated joint force structure.
General Oluyede noted that future adversaries will not be limited to the physical battlefield but will operate across the electromagnetic spectrum, cyberspace, and information domains. He called for the acquisition and development of platforms that can seamlessly share data across the Army, Navy, and Air Force to close the “sensor-to-shooter” loop faster than the enemy can react.
Additive Manufacturing: The Technical Edge
Perhaps the most forward-looking technical session occurred on the second day, led by Mr. Kayode Adeleke, CEO of RusselSmith Group. Speaking on “Additive Manufacturing for Military Resilience, Self-Reliance and Defence Readiness in Africa,” Adeleke presented a case for integrating 3D printing into the defence supply chain.
For a semi-technical audience, the implications of industrial-grade additive manufacturing (AM) are profound. It allows for the rapid prototyping of drone components, the on-demand production of spare parts for legacy vehicles (such as the sprawling fleet of MRAPs and soft-skinned trucks used in counter-insurgency), and the fabrication of complex geometries impossible with traditional machining. RusselSmith’s recent partnership with DICON aims to leverage this technology to reduce downtime for critical assets in the field.
The Pathway Forward
Major General V.O. Ezugwu (Rtd), a former Director General of DICON and the architect behind the indigenously produced Ezugwu MRAP, provided a retrospective and forward-looking analysis on December 9. His presentation, “Strengthening the Coordination of Military Production for National Defence and Future Wars,” stressed that “force build-up” is not just about stockpiling weapons but about creating a cohesive ecosystem where R&D institutions, private industry, and the military user requirements align.
Organisers noted that since its inception in 2014, NISECEXPO has evolved from a security conference into a premier continental marketplace. This year’s focus on “Operational Resilience” acknowledges that in an era of hybrid warfare, the ability of a force to sustain itself logistically through local industry is as vital as its frontline firepower.