Reps back bill to build Nigeria's own drone industry
- The House of Representatives has passed a drone industry bill for second reading.
- It is sponsored by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu and 12 other lawmakers.
- The bill proposes a national council, tax breaks and local-content targets for locally made drones.
The House of Representatives has taken a first big step towards a home-grown drone industry, passing a bill for second reading on Wednesday.
The bill is sponsored by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu and 12 other lawmakers. It now goes to a committee for closer scrutiny before the House considers it again.
Leading the debate, Ahmed Satomi, who chairs the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, said the aim is to move Nigeria away from buying foreign drones and towards designing, building and selling its own. Satomi represents a Borno constituency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He argued that relying on imports holds back local innovation, job creation and industrial growth. Without coordinated support, he said, Nigerian firms with good ideas may never turn them into products people can buy.
What the bill proposes
The bill has 49 clauses in 12 parts. It proposes a National Drone Industrialisation Council to coordinate policy, targets, incentives, partnerships, industrial zones and exports.
It also wants a National Drone Industrialisation Policy drawn up within 12 months of the law taking effect, with measurable goals for local content, jobs, research, manufacturing and exports.
- Customs and import-duty concessions for qualifying firms
- Tax credits for research and development
- Accelerated capital allowances, grants and cheaper financing
- Help with certification, infrastructure and investment
- Government procurement preferences for local products
Satomi said the bill also guards against misuse, with provisions on aviation safety, cybersecurity, data protection and national security. It keeps the statutory duties of regulators and defence authorities intact, he said.
Drones are already used in Nigeria for farming, mapping infrastructure, emergency response, research and security. Supporters say building them locally could create skilled jobs and keep more money inside the country.
"The future belongs to nations that can transform technological innovation into industrial capacity, economic prosperity and national security," Satomi told the House.
The bill passed by voice vote and was referred to the relevant committee for further legislative consideration.
For ordinary Nigerians, the payoff would not be immediate. If the incentives work, they could mean factory jobs, cheaper locally made equipment for farmers and responders, and new export earnings. If they do not, the country keeps buying drones abroad.
