Professor Isaac Odun-Ayo has called on the Federal Government and the Nigerian military to adopt new technologies to combat terrorism in their bids to strengthen the nation’s security architecture.
Odun-Ayo made the call while delivering the 2nd inaugural lecture of Chrisland University, Abeokuta, on Thursday, 18th, 20124.
The inaugural lecture was theme “Who Are These That Fly As Clouds? Scaling Computing Metaphors”.
According to the Professor of Computer Science, for Nigeria to strengthen the national security, there is need to engage new, smart, and disruptive technologies like cloud computing, big data, and generative Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The erudite scholar noted that the Nigerian Armed Forces must be at the forefront of adopting these technologies to revamp Nigeria’s security architecture on land, air, and sea.
He said that the federal government should increase spending to build social and human intelligence required to deal with hostile non-state actors.
Speaking further, the Don conmended President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Infrastructural Development Fund initiative, urging the President to also launch the “Renewed Hope Science and Technology Development Fund”.
Odun-Ayo advised that the initiative should focus on Cloud Infrastructure and Artificial intelligence.
He said “The Nigerian government should ramp up public cloud spending, the government and military use to, on one hand, build for social and human intelligence required to deal with hostile non-state actors and on the other hand, create homegrown providers as it is imprudent to host the nation’s technological
“The Nigerian government should embark on comprehensive and holistic training of its staff across all sectors and agencies to guarantee the optimization of Cloud and Artificial Intelligence technologies.
“There must be a deliberate focus on innovation and technology which will have a multiplier effect on all sectors of our national life.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently launched the renewed Hope Infrastructural Development Fund. Therefore, the President should also launch the Renewed Hope Science and Technology Development Fund with a focus on Cloud infrastructure and Artificial intelligence.”
Odun-Ayo also emphasised that the curricula of military colleges and paramilitary agencies must reflect emerging technologies like cloud computing, quantum computing, and Artificial Intelligence in order to effectively combat insecurity in the country.
In addition, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Chinedum Peace Babalola who applaud the inaugural lecturer, stated that the institution is investing heavily in the future of its students in the area of computer science to enable them to meet future challenges.
She stressed that there is a need for the country to leverage technology in her fight against terrorism.
