Research students of the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) would utilise wide ranging facilities at the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) as part of ongoing efforts to renew existing partnership between AFIT and DICON. The leader of the DICON Committee set up to review the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between it and Defence Related Industries (DRIs), Brigadier General CA Ekeator, disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the Commandant, AFIT, AVM SL Rabe on 17 October, 2023.
Brigadier General Ekeator stated that, in a renewed effort to meet its statutory mandate, DICON set up a committee to collaborate with reputable DRIs to review all existing MoUs and consider modalities for engaging new ones. According to him, the essence was to facilitate the ongoing prospect of evolving a viable military Industrial Complex in Nigeria through the 2023 DICON Bill.
The Commandant of AFIT, Air Vice Marshal Rabe, acknowledged the significant role played by DICON in the development of research initiatives especially in the engineering field and pledged to continue the collaboration between AFIT and DICON. The Commandant expressed delight for the newly acquired equipment in DICON and assured the DICON MoU Review Committee that a team of engineering experts from AFIT would visit DICON facilities to update their knowledge of the current research capabilities of the Corporation.
AVM Rabe disclosed that some of AFIT students started thinking in terms of research before gaining admission into AFIT. He therefore expressed the readiness of AFIT to do everything humanly possible to support the new DICON research initiatives.
BI OKON PhD
Wing Commander
Director of Public Relations, AFIT