Minister of State for Defence, Mohammed Bello Matawalle, recently presented two state-of-the-art unmanned water vessels to President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The donation, comprising the S2 and S3 Swift Sea Stalkers, was provided by Swift Ship Company in the USA, aimed at bolstering Nigeria’s efforts to tackle insecurity on its waterways and nationally.
The minister, as quoted by Director of Press, Information, and Public Relations, Henshaw Ogubike, conveyed to the President that these vessels represented the latest technologies for combating insecurity in regions like the Niger Delta, Lake Chad, and other maritime areas. Matawalle, who had undertaken a recent working visit to the US, inspected advanced military hardware-producing companies like NEANY, Swift Ships, and OCR Global.
Highlighting the outcomes of his US tour, Matawalle informed President Tinubu that the donation of these cutting-edge unmanned water vessels resulted from the minister’s pursuit of partnerships with US companies for the local production of military hardware in collaboration with the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON).
The minister underscored the alignment of this collaboration with President Tinubu’s commitment to national security. He detailed the various facilities inspected during his US visit, including a rapid deployment mobile RADAR system, unmanned water vehicles, drone ground control station, and a compact biometric search-scan system. Matawalle assured the President that these advanced military and intelligence hardware capabilities would significantly contribute to the ongoing fight against insecurity in Nigeria.
