Experts Seek Role for IT in Fight against Insurgency

Mr. Opeyemi Onifade, president of the Abuja chapter of Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), has said Information Technology (IT) could be deployed to combat insurgency in the country.
 
Onifade said this at the sixth ISACA Annual International Conference with the theme “Cyberspace and Evolution of Business Professionals” in Abuja.

“One of the reasons we are finding it difficult to solve some of these security problems is because of the way we are managing our information access as a country.

“For example if somebody is a criminal, there is no data base to profile the person; we have CCTV all around but even if it captures somebody today, how do we know who the person is?

“ So if the information aspect of the country is well protected, then you can begin to use technology and right intelligence to solve other problems that the nation is facing ‘’.

Onifade called on the Federal Government to properly manage the cyberspace for national security in addition to protecting the nation’s critical national information infrastructure.

He stressed the need for organisations to protect their information, especially where it affected their businesses.

Also speaking, Malam Yusuf Kazaure, managing director, Galaxy Backbone, said that IT had the capability to tackle insecurity in Nigeria.
 
Kazaure said that governance and national security were essential in ensuring an all-inclusive development with the advent e-government.

“ICT is about information, and the reason for insecurity most times is due to lack of information, because with the right information at the right time a lot security issues are better managed.

Kazaure said that Galaxy had been providing the infrastructure to drive e-government project not only to MDAs but to other sectors and was collaborating with KOICA to enhance e-government in Nigeria.

He said that the company had laid the foundation for e-governance by creating an enabling platform that currently connected over 700 MDAs in over 4,000 locations across the country.

According to him, very soon Nigeria will be the leading country in the use of internet in Africa as “this will boost our economy’’.