The National Counter Terrorism Centre has identified poor funding and inadequate manpower as key challenges hindering the nation’s armed forces from fully leveraging technology to enhance operational effectiveness.
The Coordinator of the Centre, Maj Gen Adamu Laka, stated this while delivering a lecture during the inauguration of Naval Warfare Course 10 in Calabar on Friday, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
Laka, who was represented by the Director of Intelligence at the NCTC, Brig Gen Peter Gbor, spoke on the topic, Leveraging Technology-Driven Intelligence for Effective Operations in the Military: AFN in Perspective.
He emphasised that emerging technologies, especially advanced artificial intelligence applications, had become major tools for operational effectiveness among military forces in the Western world.
He, however, noted that Nigeria was still grappling with making headway in the deployment of such technologies owing to the lack of robust artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The coordinator explained that assessments of ongoing research and development initiatives indicated that advanced AI applications remained underdeveloped and insufficiently integrated into core operational systems.
“Consequently, while institutional efforts have signalled a growing recognition of the importance of AI, gaps in funding, technical expertise, coordination and strategic focus continue to diminish the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on operational effectiveness.
“This infrastructure includes high-performance computing systems, data storage and processing platforms, secure networks, base transceiver stations, fibre-optic platforms, satellite links and reliable broadband connectivity.
“The country needs about 80,000 base stations for the optimal speed required for 4G or 5G networks, but currently has about 53,460 base stations, which fall short of what is required,” he said.
Laka said this had resulted in poor data quality and weak integration across services.
He added that the lack of robust AI infrastructure constituted a neutral impediment to the effective use of artificial intelligence by the armed forces for enhanced operational effectiveness.
He noted that Nigeria was ranked 86th in digital well-being out of 117 countries, largely due to poor internet connectivity.
Laka said that while Nigeria invested about $4bn in information and communication technology infrastructure between 2010 and 2021, Rwanda invested over $12bn within the same period.
The coordinator added that the shortage of AI-trained specialists undermined the armed forces’ ability to exploit large volumes of data generated from Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance platforms.
He said that without sufficient expertise to design and train algorithms, validate outputs and integrate AI insights into decision-making processes, commanders would be unable to fully leverage AI for real-time threat detection and predictive analysis.
“Furthermore, AI development, being a relatively new field, is taught in only a few tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
“Therefore, the shortage of AI-trained specialists impedes the technical capacity of the armed forces, thereby undermining their ability to exploit large volumes of data generated from ISR platforms,” he said.
However, Laka said efforts were being made to change the narrative beginning from the first quarter of 2027, adding that this would be achieved through dedicated funding and partnerships with local AI institutions.
He said the institutions would provide technical expertise, facilitate knowledge transfer and support collaborative research projects.
Speaking also, the Commander of the Naval War College, Rear Admiral Mohammed Muye, said the Armed Forces of Nigeria had been progressively reorienting their focus towards the increased use of technology to drive operations.
He said the strategic shift was largely driven by the increasing exploitation of technology by the nation’s adversaries in recent times.
According to him, this has compounded the complexity of countering multidimensional surface and shore-based threats within Nigeria’s maritime domain.
The commander said participants for Naval Warfare Course 10 were drawn from the Nigerian Navy, Army and Air Force, as well as from Liberia, Cameroon and Ghana.
Similarly, the Flag Officer Commanding, Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral Chiedozie Okehie, urged participants to imbibe and replicate the knowledge acquired to enhance the operational effectiveness of their respective security agencies.
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