Kebbi State Fabricates Locally Made Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) To Fight Insecurity
The Kebbi State Government has locally fabricated Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) for the military as parts of efforts to fight insecurity in the state.
A statement by government spokesperson, Yahaya Sarki, said the carriers would help provide appropriate transport to security services for combat operations.
The vehicles, painted in Army colour, were produced locally by a team of the State Automobile Technicians, led by the Deputy Governor of the state, retired Colonel Samaila Yombe-Dabai.
Speaking on the development, team leader of the fabricators and state Deputy Governor, Col. Yombe-Dabai (Rtd), while showcasing the vehicles to journalists in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital, said the laudable effort by the state government was aimed at providing appropriate transportation to security services on combat operations.
He said that the vehicles had been reinforced with hardened steel and were suitable for battle with provisions for a driver, a gunner and space for extra troops.
He explained that the fabrication was approved and supported by the State Governor, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu towards providing transportation to combatants, as a major requirement in warfare, to secure the lives and property of citizens.
Col. Yombe-Dabai described Kebbi State as the pacesetter in the country in such innovative technology, which, he said, served both as a cost effective measure, as well as an innovation in advancing Nigeria’s quest for technical know-how.
The Deputy Governor pointed out: “You all know the kind of efforts His Excellency has made to ensure the safety of lives and property of our people in the state. Not only in Kebbi state, also in the country. Let me narrow our discussion to certain fabrication we did to support the state Governor’s efforts in the area of security.
“One of the major requirements in security is transportation, to have the capacity to move arms and ammunition and men to the area of combat. His Excellency, for the past three months, has been making efforts to provide transport for our security agents.
“Behind me are some of the vehicles he bought and I suggested to him, sir let us make these vehicles sophisticated militarily and make them look like the vehicles that can carry military weapons.
“We can change it from civilian outlook to military outlook. As you can see, these vehicles were bought in this condition and we carried out certain fabrications to make it look like military vehicles.”
According to Yombe-Dabai, the vehicles were built to carry military hardware for the driver, for those inside and those at the back of the vehicle by putting on armoured material with the weight the vehicle could carry.
He added: “We have a Toyota Land Cruiser behind me, one of the vehicles that we bought, and it has limited weight such that if we are to put all armoured gadgets, it would not be able to carry out combat mission, with the engine.
“So, we provided shield for the engine, the driver and soldiers at the back. At the end of the day, we painted the vehicle in a camouflage colour.
“Gentlemen, in a nutshell, that is what we have done. We have five vehicles we have done and we are going to do another set of five. These ones are going to be faster, because we have already set-up the template for the construction required to reassemble the vehicles.”