Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, has urged the federal government to take the surveillance and security of the country’s space seriously.
Aside various security chiefs and heads of security agencies, Hon. Kalu also recommended the appointment of a space service chief or chief of space staff to head the Space Command Force for proactive space security.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of a post inauguration retreat organised for members of the House Committee on Defence by the National Defence College, Abuja; the deputy speaker said it was high time Nigeria moved from the usual and known mechanism for fighting insurgencies, saying the battle should also be taken into space to achieve the unusual results.
“I have seen you also struggle to meet the challenges and the dynamic demands of security, all of which are issues that have gone around the space.
“In some countries, you have space service chiefs, what are we doing about that? There is need for one to be created. We are beyond what is obvious.
“Some of the warfare is now taking place in the space. And I can assure you, we ignore that? We will not be doing justice to the mandate of protecting the territorial borders of this country.
“So, it is high time we started looking beyond what happens here, think about what happens up there, the space”, Kalu said.
The chairman, House Committee on Defence, Hon. Babajimi Benson, lauded the quality leadership presented by the Tajudeen Abbas-led 10th House of Representatives.