Engineers in Nigeria has been urged to design, construct, fabricate and maintain security tools, gadgets, weapons, equipment and infrastructure for sustainable economic growth.
This was said at the 2023 annual public lecture of the Nigeria Society Of Engineers, Bwari Branch with the theme: “National security as a panacea for sustainable economic growth the role of engineers” held at NSE headquarters Abuja
Delivering his keynote address, the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, noted that the security Engineering sector in Nigeria is currently dominated by foreigners. Furthermore, most security gadgets and equipment used by security agents in the country are imported. Though the world is said to be a global village, crimes are local, hence, there should be a localised approach to the prevention, fight, and detection of crimes.
Alkali who was represented by the AIG, Rudolph Obe said, “To effectively secure the nation, there should be locally developed crime-prevention gadgets, tools, equipment, and facilities. They should be domesticated from conception, bearing our peculiarities in mind, to tackle security challenges of our nation in particular. This is wake up call for Nigeria Engineers and its umbrella body.
“The Nigeria Society of Engineers to up their game and tap into the vast opportunities in this important sector thereby contributing their quota to the development of the nation.
“As an important stakeholder in the security of the nation, I make bold to say that it is your duty to design, construct/fabricate and maintain security tools, gadgets, weapons, equipment and infrastructure. Such design must, however, focus on complementing physical security policies of the Federal Government in addition to aiding its implementation by the security agencies.
“This will save the nation the foreign exchange expended on their continued importation. It will also enhance the economy of the country and provide jobs for the teaming unemployed youths among other benefits. You are hereby charged to rise up to this responsibility for the sustainable development of our nation.”
In the same vein, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, said that the dual use of technology approach could address the challenge of limited market for defence equipment. It would encourage private sectors to collaborate with the military and invest into equipment production.
Irabor who was represented by the director engineering services Defence Headquarters, Major General Gat Ochigbano said that the Nigeria Society of Engineers could deepen its partnership with the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology.
He added that the availability of skilled and innovative personnel would address the challenge of weak technological roots.
“To this effect, engineers and researcher could focus attention on training and R&D in critical areas of defence such as missile design, military vehicle engineering, marine architecture etc.”
He noted that the poor investment on R&D has made it difficult for Nigeria to perform excellently in technological innovation and industrialization.Adding that the Armed Forces depends largely foreign on countries for arms and military material.
Thus, low investment in R&D is a constraint that hinders the utilization of ETI for production of defence equipment towards enhancing national security in Nigeria.
Nigeria lacks the technological capability to develop and produce her military equipment. It is a generally held belief that the lack of iron and steel has prevented Nigeria from manufacturing ships, cars and airplane. Adding that the advancements in material science have presented alternatives for the same purpose.
The president Nigeria Society Engineers, Engr Tasiu Sa’ad Gidari-Wudil reflecting on the theme of the event, said that there are a lot of people who are not in the security circle do not really know the level of technology the arm forces are using. If that is out now I doubt if we are going to be insecurity. So the role of engineer is very important and I strongly believe that our distinguish guests speakers will do justice to this topic.
He said that the significance of security cannot be overemphasised as it is the defence and security of a sovereign state including the citizens, economy and the institutions. It is regarded as the duty of the community to ensure it citizens are secured.
According to him, National security is the path of socio- economic growth of any nation. In fact, if there is no peace there is no economic growth. Security is a concern to all.
He noted that engineers have a great role to play in national security as we are the drivers of technical innovations. We therefore must have applied technology and our logical thinking to solving our security challenges.
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