Insecurity: Reps push national drone policy, seek support for local manufacturers

Nigeria's House of Representatives is pushing for a comprehensive national drone industrialization policy to strengthen the country's defense manufacturing capabilities and improve its response to escalating security challenges. The lawmakers also advocated for structured financial support for local drone manufacturers, emphasizing their need for government backing to increase production and meet the demands of the Armed Forces and other security agencies.

The resolutions stem from a motion introduced by Lagos lawmaker Ademorin Kuye, who highlighted Nigeria's ongoing struggles with terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, insurgency, and pipeline vandalism. Kuye pointed out that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones, have become essential tools in modern warfare, intelligence gathering, surveillance, and counter-insurgency operations globally. He warned that non-state armed groups, including Boko Haram and ISWAP, are already employing commercial drones against Nigerian troops, underscoring the urgent need for indigenous drone manufacturing capacity.

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The House is concerned that Nigeria, with a pool of engineering talent, a growing technology entrepreneurship ecosystem, existing military-industrial partnerships, and the largest economy in Africa, possesses the foundational conditions to become the hub for drone technology, provided there is structured government policy, capital and legislative support.

Kuye argued that Nigeria possesses the foundational elements to become a drone technology hub, citing its engineering talent, growing tech entrepreneurship, existing military-industrial partnerships, and status as Africa's largest economy. However, he stressed that this potential can only be realized with structured government policy, capital investment, and legislative support. He cited the Nigerian Air Force Institute of Technology's development of the Tsaigumi UAV in 2018 as proof of the country's technical capability, while lamenting that the sector remains underdeveloped.

The House expressed concern that Nigeria's drone manufacturing ecosystem is primarily driven by the private sector, lacks sufficient capital, and is insufficiently supported by state policy, technology transfer frameworks, legislative incentives, or dedicated defense industrial zones. To address this, the House urged the Federal Government to provide capital support to verified indigenous drone manufacturers through mechanisms like the Bank of Industry and the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria. This support aims to enable companies to expand production capacity and fulfill military procurement requirements.

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The House is also concerned that Nigeria’s drone manufacturing ecosystem remains largely private sector-driven, lightly capitalised, and insufficiently supported by structured state policy, technology transfer frameworks, legislative incentives or dedicated defence industrial zones, thereby limiting its scale, sophistication and strategic impact.