IBADAN (Sundiata Scholar) – The Director-General, Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Abuja, Maj.-Gen. Garba Wahab (Rtd), has underscored the need for indigenous systems to address insecurity and promote national development.
Wahab stated this on Monday in Ibadan at the Faculty Distinguished Personality Lecture, organised by the Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan (UI).
reports that the lecture is entitled “The Military and the Gown: Forging Partnership for National Development”.
Wahab noted that the military and the gown have had a long collaboration leading to ground-breaking inventions in industry, science and technology, and medicine.
“Most military weapons and equipment are products of intense collaboration between the academic and the gown, which has also aided the development of nations.
“Through knowledge and information sharing, research, exchange programmes, learning and building consensus at all levels, both sectors have advanced the nation and solved common challenges that hinder the development of nations,” he said.
According to him, the military-gown partnership has aided security in Nigeria and led to enhanced capacity of the military, increased intelligence sharing and reduced crime rate in the country.
“However, there is a need to forge and deepen partnerships to produce a modern military with heavy reliance on indigenous systems and address the common problems of insecurity that have become a challenge to national development,” Wahab said.
He identified challenges to address in forging partnerships with academia as finance, lack of quality laboratories that could support high-level research in Nigerian universities, and incessant industrial action.
Wahab stated that most research from the military were conducted outside the country, mainly at Indian universities, thus emphasising the need to look inward.
“Academia should continue to develop competent and motivated high-level researchers.
“Production of adequate pedagogic material and well-equipped research laboratories should adapt to modern science and technology and keep pace with renowned global standard practices,” he said.
Wahab said academia should strive to produce more confident students since they were trained specifically to be integrated into active life.
In his remarks, Maj.-Gen. Obinna Onubogu, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 2 Division, Nigerian Army, Ibadan, reiterated the needed collaboration between academia and the military.
According to him, the military is doing quite a lot of collaboration and will continue to do so.
Onubogu called for value reorientation, especially among the youths, adding that most of the security issues in the South-West were due to misguided youths who had lost respect and values.
The GOC said the nation needed value restoration to overcome some of its insecurity issues.
In his address, the Dean, Faculty of Arts, UI, Prof. Solomon Oyetade, stated the need for the military to understand the languages of immediate communities sharing borders with Nigeria.
Oyetade said there were numerous ways the faculty could partner with the military to provide research that could help military operations and engagement.
NAN reports that Wahab was presented a merit award by the Faculty of Arts, UI. (NAN)