Nigerian Army Ezugwu MRAP vehicle production nearly complete.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, said production of the first set of Mines Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles by the Nigerian Army Command Engineering Depot in Kaduna is at 80 percent completion, The Nation reports.

Ezugwu MRAP (Picture source: Strategic Intelligence Services)

Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai stated this 5th November during an inspection at the depot located at Rigachikun, in Kaduna State. He said the decision to go into local production of the MRAP vehicle nicknamed Ezugwu was meant to deploy local content and technology to support army operations. Buratai said the first set of MRAPs would be rolled out soon, adding that the vehicles were being produced with 100 per cent local engineers of the army.

Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai said the vehicles were also made of over 70 percent local content in collaboration with the Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON). “As I have been briefed, it is up to 80 percent of the 10 they intend to produce immediately. They will soon be inaugurated. Once they are formally inaugurated, we will launch them, operationalise them in our available theatres of operation.

Buratai described the initiative as a revolution in military affairs, its operations, training, general administration and technical know-how.

Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army Staff of the Nigerian army (Picture source: The Nation)