The National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) has highlighted poor funding and manpower as challenges hindering the nation’s armed forces from fully leveraging technology to enhance operational effectiveness.

Coordinator of the centre, Maj.-Gen. Adamu Laka, stated this while delivering a lecture during the inauguration of the Naval Warfare Course 10 in Calabar on Friday.

Laka, who spoke on. ‘Leveraging Technology Driven Intelligence for Effective Operations In The Military: AFN In Perspective,’ was represented by the Director of Intelligence at the NCTC, Brig.-Gen. Peter Gbor.

Laka emphasised that emerging technologies, especially advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications, have become a major tool in operational effectiveness among military forces in the western world.

He, however, noted that Nigeria was still grappling with making headway with the technology owing to lack of robust artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The coordinator explained that assessment of ongoing research and development initiatives indicates that advanced AI applications remain underdeveloped and insufficiently integrated into core operational systems.

“Consequently, while institutional efforts have signaled growing recognition of AI importance, gaps in funding, technical expertise, coordination, and strategic focus continue to dim the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on operational effectiveness.

“This infrastructure includes high-performance computing systems, data storage and processing platforms, secure networks, base transceiver stations, fiber optic platforms, satellite lanes, and reliable broadband connectivity.

“The country needs 80,000 base stations for optimal speed required for 4G or 5G networks, but only has about 53,460 base stations, which are short of what is required. This has resulted in poor data quality and integration across services,” he stated.

Laka pointed out that as a result, the lack of robust AI infrastructure constitutes an impediment to the effective use of AI by the armed forces for enhanced operational effectiveness.

He noted that Nigeria is ranked 86 regarding digital well-being out of 117 countries with poor internet connectivity.

According to him, while Nigeria invested $4 billion in probation and communication technology infrastructure between 2010 and 2021, Rwanda invested over US$12 billion within the same period.

Additionally, the coordinator also said the shortage of AI trained specialists undermines the armed forces’ ability to exploit large volumes of data generated from Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms.

“Without sufficient expertise to design and train algorithms, validate outputs, and integrate AI insights into decision-making processes, commanders are unable to fully leverage AI for real-time threat detection, predictive analysis, and operational planning.

“Furthermore, AI development, being a relatively new field, is taught in a few tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

“Therefore, the shortage of AI trained specialists impedes the technical capacity of the armed forces, thereby undermining the ability to exploit large volumes of data generated from ISR platforms. This is undermining operational effectiveness,” Laka explained.