President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday instructed 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 all 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, said 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 emphasized on the fears over health safety of 5G, stating 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 released in Nigeria in the month of 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.”
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.
