ICT- driven warfare can be won without physical combat – Umar Danbatta

The executive vice-chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that ICT- driven warfare can be won without physical combat.

Speaking at the commencement of training cadets of the Department of Computer Science, Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA), on modern warfare using Information Communication Technology (ICT).

Prof. Umar Danbatta, during his lecture to the cadets, who visited the Commission to investigate modern Communications warfare to be able to maintain peace and combat external aggression noted that ICT- driven warfare can be won without physical combat.

He said the “ultimate training, we have given our officers and gentlemen in the military is modern warfare technique. And this technique does not rely on physical combat anymore.

“You don’t even come close to each other; the war is normally won without exchanging a simple blow. The war is normally won, safely in the command and control centres.

“Like I said, the combat readiness strategy has been implemented, locating where the enemy is, and giving instructions to the Air Force to do the damage that will contain the threats posed by them.

“I am not a military man but I think what we are seeing increasingly is this deployment of items of electronic equipment to fight the war.”

The NCC boss stressed that the country’s electronic combat readiness must be of very high standards for those who want to win the fight against insecurity, against external aggression, against the maintenance and sustenance of peace within this country.

He charged the military students to produce softwares that would aid the operations of the military.

“I also encourage them to come up with a software that can help some of these programmes.

“We engage such institutions in order to find what else we can do in order to ensure they deliver on the important mandate given to them to train minds,” he said.

He noted that this is being implemented in order to ensure attainment of desired objectives so as to engage and collaborate with different institutions of government.

“So that we can come together and agree on the direction that we should follow to move this important agency and take it to greater heights.

We cannot just sit inside the NCC by ourselves, we must engage with these critical stakeholders of this communities. In order to listen to them, explain to them what we are doing.

“By so doing, get a feedback that will in turn enhance the journey we are undertaking deliberately, in order to improve the quality of service that is being provided by mobile network operators.

To ensure optimum utilisation of resources like spectrums, ensure we attract the right amount of investment into the sector for the provision of more qualitative and efficient services,” Danbatta said.

The Head of Department (HoD) Computer Science Department, NDA, Dr Abraham Evwiekpaefe, in his remarks said that the cadets were there to balance theories.

We are here for a site visit for the cadets to get firsthand knowledge of the infrastructure to ensure a balance between the theory different products of operation. This is part of the requirements for students on Industry training,” he stated.

He also lauded the NCC for its contribution to the NDA in terms of capacity building and the provision of one year internet network for use by the institution even as he called for more collaboration between the agencies. #ICT- driven warfare can be won without physical combat – Umar Danbatta