Emma Okonji
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the government agency charged with the responsibility of promoting technology solutions for national development, has stressed the need for the adoption of key technology solutions in combating national insecurity in the country.
The Director General of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, who gave the advice when he recently played host to the Rector of the Nigerian Army College of Environmental Science and Technology (NACEST) Makurdi, Brigadier General Yahaya Abdulhamid, at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja, said with the advent of artificial intelligence, automated vehicles and drones among many other hi-tech innovations in fighting war, the federal government could adopt a combination of these technologies to address the country’s national security challenges.
According to Abdullahi, “It is important to know how to use technology not just as an enabler but as a strategic design for your strategy in general, which will inspire you to do more.
“NITDA Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2021-2024) is built on seven pillars with their respective goals and objectives, which are; Developmental Regulations, Digital Literacy and Skills, Digital Transformation, Digital Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Cybersecurity, Emerging Technologies, and Promotion of Indigenous Content.”
Abdullahi noted that the agency’s focus was about improving how things are being done using technology and innovation by creating an enabling environment and an innovation ecosystem that will allow a smooth digitised process, adding that the agency is ready to collaborate with NACEST to deploy technologies to combat and proffer solutions to the country’s rising issue of insecurity.
He explained that innovation does not happen in isolation but rather, with proper alignment and positioning in a relevant ecosystem, which he said would necessitate the proposed collaboration between the two parties, adding that there is cross pollination between Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the Nigerian Army College of Environmental Sciences and Technology.
“The National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, a subsidiary of NITDA, is fostering the development of emerging technologies in preparing Nigeria for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in which NACEST can partner in research, development of technologies like drones, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), among others, as a veritable tool in combating national insecurity,” he said.
Abdulhamid, in his remarks, noted that the school was one of the Polytechnics that runs Diploma Programme in Technical and Vocational Education and Training.
He said the College remained regulated by National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), a national body mandated with the responsibility to ensure the quality of all Diploma certificated programmes in Nigeria.
He further disclosed that the school employs ICT in the Computer Engineering laboratory, Computer Science Laboratory, E-Library, ICT Centre, Management Information System (MIS), Editing and Advertising Laboratory, Resource centre, Television and Radio Studios, among others.
