Director-general National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi have advised the Nigerian Army to adopt 21st century military infrastructure and technology in enhancing national security.
The DG stated this Wednesday when he received Chief of Defence Communications Nigerian Army, Major General Elvis Njoku and his team who were at the corporate headquarters of the Agency to seek collaboration with the aim of improving military operations.
Abdullahi said the collaboration is necessary in addressing the current insecurity challenge faced by the country as warfare is no longer physical and therefore imperative for the Nigerian Army to measure up with the global modernized military infrastructure which will help in achieving their mandate.
He said NITDA which was established to implement National IT Policy has recently been replaced with the National Digital Economic Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria.
He noted that the Agency’s focus is improving on how things are done using technology and innovations by creating an enabling environment and an innovation ecosystem which will allow smooth digitized process.
However, innovation does not happen in isolation but rather, with proper alignment and positioning in a relevant ecosystem which necessitates the proposed collaboration between the two parties.
He stated that apart from the good relationship and collaborations the Agency has with the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Police Force and other paramilitary agencies in areas of capacity building and cyber security, it is willing to go beyond that and collaborate on more intensive areas. “There is a national problem and we need to collaborate to identify and solve the problem.”
He said combating national insecurity is a collective responsibility and assured the Major General of the Agency’s support in coming up with solutions, exploring technology to detect improvised explosive devices and exploiting all resources such as use of drones, artificial intelligence and robotics in ensuring optimal national security.
Earlier, Chief of Defence Communications, Major General Elvis Njoku said the new Chief of Defence Staff General Lucky Irabor mandated him to visit all communications and IT related government established institutions, to collaborate in tackling the contemporary security challenges.
