A former Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, has called for an urgent transition from Nigeria’s largely reactive security framework to one anchored on data, prediction, and advanced technology.
Irabor made the call on Thursday while delivering a lecture at the 2026 Annual Lecture of the Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan College of Arts and Social Sciences, Edo State.
He warned that the country risked lagging behind evolving security threats if it failed to embrace artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies shaping modern defence operations globally.
The retired general described terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and cybercrime as major threats that had reshaped daily life and weakened state authority in parts of the country.
According to him, although conventional military operations have recorded successes, they remain inadequate against non-state actors who increasingly deploy digital tools for coordination, recruitment, and financing.
“Artificial intelligence is no longer optional,” Irabor said, stressing that it had become a decisive factor in intelligence gathering, warfare, and national security management worldwide.
He noted that global security systems were shifting toward predictive analytics, autonomous surveillance, and real-time data processing to enhance threat detection and response.
Irabor urged Nigeria to adopt similar innovations to improve intelligence accuracy, boost situational awareness, and enable faster decision-making in addressing complex security challenges.
He, however, cautioned that technology alone could not resolve the crisis, emphasising the need for institutional reforms, ethical safeguards, and human-centred policies to guide the deployment of AI.
Irabor also identified challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, limited technical capacity, and weak policy coordination as barriers to effective adoption of modern security technologies.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of Igbinedion University, Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye,
described the lecture theme, “Combating Insecurity in Nigeria: Artificial Intelligence and the Global Future,” as a call for urgent national transformation.
He said Nigeria’s security approach must move beyond reactive responses, adding that the future of national security would be driven by data and technology.
Ezemonye also commended the institution’s Chancellor, Gabriel Igbinedion, for promoting research-based dialogue, stressing that universities must provide practical solutions to national challenges.
