The Head of the Centre of Intelligence of Things, School of Creative Technology, University of Bolton, Celestine Iwendi, has said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must declare and implement a state of Emergency on security as banditry has now become an industry in Nigeria.
Iwendi made this statement in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday while discussing the ways in which Artificial Intelligence could have been implemented to prevent the unfortunate deaths in Gwoza, Borno State, which were caused by four suicide bombers.
The researcher said, “Banditry is an industry, that’s what I see from outside, it’s now an industry in Nigeria. So, I read in the other news, a CP was saying that they even caught a local government chairman. If a former local government chairman was part of the people who they caught as part of the banditry, then it’s a very serious thing. So, the President needs to declare a state of emergency in security. It’s not just announcing, no, you have to declare and let’s see real implementation.”
He went on to say, “Those ladies, from intelligence point of view, are not bombers- they were set up. You could see from the news I read that one of them was shaking. But what marvels me in everything about Africa, especially in Nigeria, is that we weep, we cry for one week, and then it’s forgotten. You know, the president has said something will be done, is it going to be done? What is the implementation strategy?”
“So, these are the things we begin to look at- what of swarm intelligence? Have they used computer vision? How can you as a military man be checking someone who has bomb near the person at this level of technology? What of drone detection? What we do in Bolton is how we can apply artificial intelligence using machine learning, you know, putting in drones. If you notice what is going on in Russia and Ukraine, the war is now on drones. The General said 200 people have been lost on foot load. Why can’t we use drone to detect and have tactical impact?
“Security for me, and solving Nigerians quagmire like you have said, is easier than solving hunger problem in Nigeria. The problem is we have not taken the bull by the horns,” Iwendi said.
Stressing the importance of AI in Nigeria’s security measures, he said, “We have the biological sensors, we have the chemical sensors. We have so many things you can use to fight this war. But like we said, first is, look at the implementation strategy, look at what has been harnessed to it. But the strategy must also come from how we view security. If we view security and take life to be meaningful, then we should start by getting the equipment needed. Because most of them are actually being, you know, the House of Assembly, they budget for this and we don’t see the equipment. If you see them, you see the old ones.
“Then, another part where we talk about the training is that the military people are not even trained to use that. I saw what happened the last time when they were trying something, and then they went and killed another people who were not even terrorists. And so, we are not putting enough time, enough resources in training our people to be efficient with the security technologies that we are operating in the world. Especially with AI.”
However, Iwendi acknowledged that Nigeria is behind in AI learning, saying, “I don’t think they have done all with AI because we are still, we had a conference last three weeks- we call it Next Generation Artificial Intelligence. I taught in China for three years, and in China, first year in China is military training. Every family should be able- I was in primary school when Hans taught me how to do Karate, I had to teach my children how to do Karate. Self defence is very important- it’s not in our curriculum, AI is not in our curriculum. We are 20 years, even more than that behind what goes on.”
Iwendi then said, “The fact is this, the intelligence needs to work together. We are ready, the University of Bolton is ready to collaborate with them and to bring in a whole lot. The government needs to say- we cannot do this, we need help. If they say they need help, then we can come in.
“You cannot defeat a digital system with an analogue based system. So, that is why we are calling the Federal government to partner with us, especially in the University of Bolton and our centre… and we have a whole lot to do.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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