The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Tuesday, directed all security institutions to immediately leverage 5G technology to enhance national security when deployed.
Buhari spoke at the launch of the National Policy on 5G for Nigeria’s Digital Economy, saying the Federal Government would take full advantage of the opportunities provided by 5G for the nation’s economy, security, and well-being.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, disclosed this in a statement titled ‘Nigeria looks to 5G technology to address security challenges as President Buhari launches national policy.’
According to him, the President allayed fears over health safety of 5G, affirming that such issues have been “effectively addressed” in developing a policy that suits the country.
The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, had on September 23, 2021 said the 5G network would be deployed in Nigeria in January 2022 and would aid surveillance against vandalism of public assets.
Highlighting the benefits of 5G technologies, Buhari said it could support virtually every sector of the economy, including enhanced connectivity, improved healthcare, support for education while fostering smart cities, and boosting agriculture, among other advantages.
He said, “It will also support security institutions with real-time communication. 5G technology is significantly faster than earlier digital technologies and it provides near real-time communication. This can play a crucial role in boosting our efforts towards enhancing security across the nation.
“It will enable our security institutions to effectively deploy robotics, autonomous vehicles, augmented and virtual reality to address any security challenges that we face,” he said at the launch of the policy, which was presented and approved at the Federal Executive Council meeting on September 8, 2021, following a prolonged debate.”
According to him, the policy includes a deployment plan to ensure that major cities across the country benefit from the technologies.
Buhari assured investors that the Federal Government would continue to provide an enabling environment for their businesses to be very successful as Nigeria began the roll-out of the technology.
He directed the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, to supervise the implementation of the policy, being done by the Nigerian Communications Commission with the support of other government institutions.
He noted that the journey to the launch of the 5G national policy began with the launch of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy in November 2019 as well as the launch of several policies to strengthen the digital economy, including the Nigerian National Broadband Plan and the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector.
Buhari noted that under his watch, the agreement of the National Economic Council to peg the cost of the right of way at N145 per linear metre which was made in 2013, was only implemented in late 2019, after the intervention of the Federal Government.
According to the President, the Information and Communications Technology sector played a prime role in enabling Nigeria’s economy to exit the recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic swiftly.
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