Former Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor (retd.), has identified inadequate infrastructure as a major constraint to Nigeria’s effective use of technology against insecurity.
Irabor spoke on Thursday, October 1, 2026, during Generation Next: Youth, Power & The Future We Must Build, a Channels Television live programme marking Nigeria’s 66th Independence anniversary.
He said the problem was not necessarily a shortage of technology, but the systems required to connect different applications and turn the intelligence they generate into actionable information.
Irabor said Nigeria’s complex security threats required multiple technologies to work together, rather than relying on a single solution.
Using drones as an example, he noted that surveillance equipment would be of limited value without facilities for transmitting, receiving and analysing the information gathered.
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He explained that drone footage could either be downloaded and analysed after an operation or transmitted in real time to an analysis centre, with both options requiring adequate infrastructure.
The comments come as security agencies expand their use of emerging technologies. In May 2026, the Nigerian Army announced additional TP-2 drones for surveillance, target acquisition, precision operations and casualty evacuation.
The Federal Government also announced plans to develop an artificial intelligence-powered Multi-domain Hybrid Intelligence Shield to strengthen intelligence efforts against terrorism, piracy and illegal mining.
Irabor, however, said the infrastructure gap did not mean that efforts were not being made to improve the country’s security capabilities.
He described the process as ongoing, saying the buildup of capacity had contributed to improvements in Nigeria’s security situation.