Chidimma Uchegbu
Commandant of the National Defence College (NDC), Rear Admiral Abdullahi Ahmed, has called on the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to support the college’s research capacity and a major curriculum overhaul to meet Nigeria’s evolving security challenges and integrate artificial intelligence (AI).
Ahmed made the appeal during a high-level visit to TETFund Executive Secretary Arc Sonny Echono at the fund’s headquarters, where both officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) outlining several collaborative initiatives.
“The support will enable us to deepen our research capacity and ensure that our curriculum remains relevant to the evolving national security challenges,” he said.
Ahmed revealed that on assumption of duty, he initiated review the curriculum, expressing strong belief that with support and input from TETFund, the College would attain the standard he has envisioned.
He added that the focus of the curriculum review is the application of artificial intelligence, strategic thinking and policy making.
According to him, as an apex security training institution in the country, the College is involved in strategic research and journal publications which are peer-reviewed in Africa and of global standard, appealing to the TETFund boss for the sponsorship of the publications.
He added that the visit was also to appreciate TETFund for its intervention in infrastructure development not only in the College but tertiary institutions across the country.
Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sonny Echono in his remark, said the MoU signed covered broad areas of collaboration between the National Defence College and Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
He underscored the need to continue to support institutions like National Defence College and others that are promoting research and also advancing the overall development of the country.
Echono used the occasion to commend
men and women in uniform who are making very difficult sacrifices of keeping the nation safe, and protecting Nigerians, some of whom are also paying the high price.
He recalled his long history of association with the National Defence College dating back to 2008, 2009 when he was Director of Procurement in the Ministry of Defense, disclosing that all the participants’ quarters that were initiated at the time and some of the projects at the permanent site, he had his direct involvement, and since then, he also has been actively engaged in some of the programmes and projects that the Fund doing there.
He said: “As the apex military training institution in the country, it’s only natural that you will lead in the area of intelligence and research, which is why only last year, TETFund decided to expand the scope of its research interventions to include a new thematic area called military and intelligence sector. That has been institutionalized, and we allocate resources for it”.
Speaking further on the imperative of the collaboration, Echono said all over the world, most of the advances in science have their origin in the military, citing the Global Positioning System, (GPS) being used today to find locations among others which are developed as part of military science.
He, therefore, expressed the commitment of TETFund to help advance and elevate the level of contributions of the military beyond the kinetic protection that they provide for the nation to other areas including exploring avenues for growth and development of the country.
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