Leveraging technology-driven solutions will enhance synergy between security agencies-Osinbjo

To improve the nation’s security architecture in line with global standards and more effectively tackle challenges nationwide, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said the current administration is asking security agencies to leverage more technology-driven solutions and intelligence-driven collaboration, as the Federal Government is investing more in the sector.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, stated this over the weekend during the graduation ceremony of participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 14 at the National Institute for Security Studies, Bwari, Abuja.

According to Prof. Osinbajo, President Buhari “has emphasized an approach that leverages inter-agency collaboration, joint operations, technology-driven enablers and the optimization of existing capabilities to avoid duplication of resources and expenditure.”

The Vice President also noted the investments made and initiatives taken by the Administration to beef up the nation’s security architecture and protect the lives and property of Nigerians.

He said, “in May this year, arising from our deliberations in the National Security Council, the President established the Committee on Needs Assessment of National Security Requirements, which he tasked me to chair with the mandate of assessing the needs of the Defence, Security and Intelligence Agencies in the light of the current challenges and recommend options for containment.

The President personally handpicked the membership of the Committee which had representation from the military, the police and the security and intelligence community.

“As a result of our work, the President signed a supplementary budget of N802 billion for the military, security and intelligence agencies. This was in keeping with his commitment since the outset of this administration to ensure that those charged with keeping Nigerians safe are adequately equipped for the job.”

In his speech, the VP then identified some major challenges in the security environment, such as the global dimensions to local security, country size and the challenge of covering extensive terrain, the availability and use of technology by criminal and terrorist individuals and groups, and inter-agency coordination.

However, he emphasized, in addition to improving the capacity of security agencies and intelligence, the importance of technology-driven solutions, in addressing the nation’s security challenges.

The VP explained that it is also “clear that we cannot secure or police a country of this size with human assets alone. We must, therefore, leverage technology.

“At a time when national resources are stretched thin, we have to come up with technology-driven solutions to addressing our security needs – whether we are discussing the policing of our borders or surveillance and reconnaissance programmes aimed at identifying criminal elements within our coastal waters, or locating terrorists hiding within the general population.”

Highlighting the impact of technology on enhancing security and cyber intelligence, the Vice President said, “When applied creatively, technology can be a force multiplier, amplifying our potential and capacity to effectively secure our territory. It is not enough to know that we should deploy technology for surveillance and combat.”

“We must become much smarter in the deployment of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tools to compensate for the human resource deficits within our security establishment.

In the same vein, the VP urged the nation’s security and intelligence agencies to reinvent itself and adopt a more empirical and data-driven institutional culture defined by analytical and forensic rigour, while also emphasizing inter-agency collaboration and synergy.

The Vice President added that leveraging technology, critical thinking and a more strategic approach to intelligence gathering would further help to address security threats.

He urged the adoption of cutting-edge technology to tackle security challenges and threats. “Our intelligence services must be proactive rather than reactive, ahead of the curve rather than behind it. Threats must be identified and addressed well before they evolve into manifest perils,” he added.

He further said, “The business of intelligence necessarily entails the capacity to expect the unexpected and to foresee the impact of unintended consequences and Black Swan events – that is unpredictable events that are beyond what is normally expected of a situation and have potentially severe consequences.”

The VP mentioned the use of “Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Edge Computing, Quantum Computing, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), 5G.”