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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The National Defence College (NDC) has approached the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for support to deepen the College’s research capacity and other support particularly on curriculum overhaul in response to evolving security challenges in Nigeria as well as integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
NDC Commandant, Rear Admiral Abdullahi Ahmed, made the appeal when he visited the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, in Abuja, on Tuesday, where the duo signed Memorandum of Understand (MoU) on several collaborative Initiatives.
He revealed that he recently initiated review the curriculum, expressing strong belief that with support and input from TETFund, the College would attain the standard he has envisioned.
“The support will enable us to deepen our research capacity and ensure that our curriculum remains relevant to the evolving national security challenges. The focus of the curriculum review is the application of AI, strategic thinking and policy making,” he said.
Ahmed said the College, as the apex security training institution in the country, 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.
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, in his remark, said the signed MoU covered broad areas of collaboration between the NDC and TETFund.
He underscored the need to continue to support institutions like the NDC 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.
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He recalled his long history of association with the NDC 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 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 TETFund, last year, 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 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.
