President Bola Tinubu has expressed his confidence that the nation will overcome the challenges to its peace and security posed by various adversaries.
Tinubu, speaking through the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, provided this assurance during the inauguration of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
The president said his confidence was anchored on the unwavering commitment of members of the Armed forces of Nigeria and the intelligence agencies, including the DSS, NIA and of course the DIA.
“You have all led me in no doubt that you have no other higher obligation than to serve and secure this nation of ours,” he said.
The president said he had made the task of securing every inch of the country a priority, adding that he had no intention on the sacred duty.
He emphasised that the DIA was a key agency in the security architecture of the country that primarily provided intelligence to the armed forces and the Ministry of Defense.
According to him, our country is bedevil by a myriad of security challenges across the six geopolitical zones of the entire nation.
“Since we became an independent nation about 64 years ago, except for the period of the civil war spanning 1967 all the way to 1970, at no time have we been faced by multiple threats than in recent times.
“We not only face physical threats, but also economic and digital threats.
“In our bid to combat physical threats, we deploy the armed forces in almost all parts of the country to assist the civil authorities.
“Some of the other threats, you will have to contend with behind your computers using, if necessary, artificial intelligence, enabling our military to know the position of the enemies or the games they are up to.”
Tinubu said it was not a coincidence that government had made deliberate efforts to ensure the general upliftment of the DIA which was created in 1986.
Tinubu, however, promised to sustain the provisional welfare, training and other administrative and logistics requirements to the agency and the entire armed forces to enhance their productivity while carrying out their mandates.
According to him, a conducive and well equipped intelligence outfit will positively impact on the overall intelligence gathering efforts, processing and timely dissemination to the various arms of the military.
He commended the leadership of the agency, past and present for concealing and completing the edifice.
“It is my sincere belief that out of this magnificent office structure shall emerge innovations and creativity in the field of intelligence gathering that will keep Nigeria ahead of its foes and make our country and people safer.
”I want to commend the entire staff of the DIA for their dedication to duty.
“I urge you to be unrelenting, proactive in creating the necessary conditions that will guarantee the realisation of the renewed hope agenda for a better country that we all desire.
“The entire nation is behind you and appreciates your sacrifices,” he added.
The Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI), Maj.-Gen. Emmanuel Undiandeye, said the agency had since establishment, diligently carried out its assigned responsibilities of intelligence gathering and provisioning of timely and appropriate actions for the military and strategic national decision making.
Undiandeye identify the place of intelligence as a critical tool of statecraft that provided the necessary foreknowledge to protect the nation from surprise attacks, either through hostile foreign military or internal challenges.
He said that certain factors and conditions such as conducive working environment of the operators of the system, were required to allow effective functioning of the agency.
He noted that the completion and inauguration of the agency’s Headquarters marked a significant milestone in the journey towards enhancing its performance in intelligence provisioning for better national defence and security.
“This building stands as a testament to the fulfillment of the cardinal requirements of the staff of this agency for optimal performance of their duties.
“The agency is taking a bold and ambitious step by initiating what we call the Defense Intelligence Agency Technology Center in preparation for the current and future challenges and warfare.
“This is in order to give our nation a chance of survival in the past approaching complex world of technology.
“Therefore, we have started incorporating artificial intelligence and data analytics into our processes in a flexible and scalable manner until we graduate into full implementation of all of the processes.
“This is against the backdrop that in the near future and any emphasis that lags behind in artificial intelligence may be incapable of defending itself or the nation indeed acts equally in the quest to improve our output,”Undiandeye said.
