It was learnt that Matawalle, a former Zamfara State governor who was accused of massive corruption by anti-graft agencies during his time in office, led the Nigerian delegation to attend the second edition of the World Defence Exhibition which commenced on 4th February 2024 in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, has embarked on a trip to Saudi Arabia, amid the worsening security situation in the country.
It was learnt that Matawalle, a former Zamfara State governor who was accused of massive corruption by anti-graft agencies during his time in office, led the Nigerian delegation to attend the second edition of the World Defence Exhibition which commenced on 4th February 2024 in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Nigerian delegation to the World Defence Exhibition comprises the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Dr. Ibrahim Kana, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Christopher Musa, Director-General of Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) Major-General Effiong Edet and other critical stakeholders of the Nigerian Armed Forces and exhibitors from the shores of Nigeria.
This comes a few weeks after his principal, President Bola Tinubu also left the country for Paris, France on a personal visit.
Speaking on his trip, the minister stated that the goal of the Global expo was for participating countries' Ministries of Defence to meet and share information and ideas on the latest defensive equipment.
According to him, the exhibition will feature significant international military businesses such as DICON and PROFORCE from Nigeria, as well as others from across the world, in addition to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Military.
He said: "The exhibition is designed to deliver key platforms across all five defence domains - land, sea, air, space (satellites) and security."
The exhibition featured displays of military hardware, latest technology military aircraft including a live air show, knowledge transfer, topical debates, and opportunities to connect, collaborate and network with key Defense stakeholders and leaders.
The minister praised the organiser of the worldwide event and stated that countries will benefit greatly from increased defence cooperation.
"The objective of the Nigerian delegation's participation in this all important event is to explore latest technology in military hardware that would eventually be acquired for the country and also create ways of collaborating with key Defence stakeholders, leaders and companies to enhance Nigeria's security structure," he went on to say.
"This aligns with President Bola Tinubu's security agenda, which aims to improve security in Nigeria and the West African area."
The 2nd world Defence Exhibition in Saudi Arabia is expected to end on the 8th of February 2024.