Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) Weekly Subject Experts’ Presentation was held at Hall C, TY Buratai Block, Abuja. There were two presentations made by the Subject Experts on Eastern Europe and North America.
The first presentation for the day was made by Brig Gen Ak Egwuagu (Rtd) subject experts on Eastern Europe. His presentation focused on how Brutal Attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall Leaves Scores Dead. Barely a week into President Putin’s fifth term in office, Russia suffered one of the worst terrorist attacks in its history on 22 March 2024 when a group of terrorists attacked concertgoers at a sold-out concert show in Moscow’s Crocus City Hall. Men in camouflage had broken into the hall, killed the security guards and opened sporadic shooting, killing as well as maiming many people before setting the 7-storey building with a capacity of over 9,000 people, on fire.
In his analysis and lessons for Nigeria, Brig Gen Ak Egwuagu (Rtd) noted that, the ISIS terrorist group had claimed responsibility of the attack but the Kremlin pointed accusing fingers at Ukraine and the West making some analysts to argue that Putin was only trying to whip up sentiments to galvanize domestic support for his planned mobilization of more troops to fight against Ukraine. Nigeria like Russia has experienced many incidents of brutal domestic attacks in the last two decades from BH terrorists, bandits, unknown gunmen and clashes between sy operatives and the civil populace leading to severe loss of lives which demands immediate attention in the interest of our national security.
He recommended that, Federal Government of Nigeria and State governments should activate the reserve force of retired military personnel to compliment the police in their various local communities towards effective information gathering, profiling of strange persons and quick security interventions to improve national security.
As a deliberate measure, free the military to embrace their primary responsibility away from involvement in internal security duties by upscaling the funding of the police towards modern policing technology and training to boost national security.
Similarly, the second presentation was made by Maj Gen AP Ahmadu subject experts on North America, he discussed how Pentagon Creates New Cyber Policy Office. In order to combat cybercrime, On 1 April 2024, the Department of Defence (DoD) set up a new cyber policy office which was first announced on 29 March 2024.The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defence for Cyber Policy mandated by the fiscal year (FY) 2023 National Defence Authorization Act aims to provide the military services and the department at large with a more civilian role into the world of cyber policy.
In his analysis and lessons for Nigeria, Maj Gen AP Ahmadu noted that, In Nigeria, organizations across all industries are becoming more reliant on digital technology to get the job done. The Nigerian Senate expressed concerns over an annual loss of US$500 million to various forms of cybercrime across the country. The upper chamber resolved to review and amend the Cybercrime (Prohibition and Prevention) Act, 2015 to put an end to the exploitation of Nigeria’s digital space by cyber criminals and certain individuals with misguided intentions.
He recommended that, the Federal Government of Nigeria should direct all MDAs and other relevant agencies to intensify training and awareness on cyber security and also the AHQ should strengthen NACWC to repel all forms of cyber-attacks and threats against NA operations.
