One of the most profound problems facing every individual in this nation right now, whether we we want to accept it or not, is security. Those of us who live in Jos and environs, in Borno and Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna, Abuja and in the Niger Delta probably know more about being secure than those in other parts of the country.

Taken at face value, being secure is being free from any form of physical threat to one’s well-being, either in the immediate or remote sense; though the very idea of security ramifies more than that. In light of daily occurrences, and especially the bombing of the national headquarters of our Police Force, just how secure are we as Nigerians?

Given the ubiquity of ICT as an enabler in all professions, what is the ICT quotient of our entire security apparatus? On the opening page of this Hi-Tech section is a small column called Preview, where new innovations in ICT are briefly featured. Some weeks back we featured an invention that will soon be in use by Brazilian Police. The literature on the invention is hereby reproduced:

Brazilian police officers will soon be using facial recognition glasses to help them scan crowds and check the faces against a criminal database.

The glasses can scan 400 faces per second at up to 50 yards away by comparing 46,000 biometric facial points. A red light comes on in the frame of the glasses if a match is detected, allowing the police to quickly identify potentially problematic people. The Brazilian government hopes to have the technology in wide use by 2016.

What technological innovation will be available to the Nigeria Police by 2020? What happened to the surveillance camera project former president Obasanjo enthused about so much? Those of us who travel frequently to the US now know that the issue of security is no longer what it used to be since the 9/11 bombings. In fact, the US government created a new department (ministry to you), in charge of Homeland Security. That is aside from the vaunted FBI, CIA, NSA,and the countless city police departments. Has the ante been raised since bombs started going off in our country? Policing here, in my view, has not changed much since when I was born, and unless we take our security more seriously, it is not likely to change.

This is where ICT comes in. Last week, I referred to Seoul, the South Korea capital, which is practically a wired city. By now, every policeman should have his own walkie-talkie, a rudimentary communication gadget used by all policemen worldwide. But here, if a suspect escapes a checkpoint, chances are he will escape the next ten unless other initiatives come to play.

The case being made here is for the wholesale application of ICT in security. While the initial equipment will certainly be imported, local content and technology transfer clauses in the supply and maintenance contract will see Nigerians being able to manufacture them in the near future. As we get nearer actualizing our foundation database, it will hopefully be easier to manage people who prefer to operate outside the law.

In light of the bombings, the Federal Government asked some countries to furnish registers of their nationals here. Great initiative, shutting the barn door after the horses have escaped. Most of those who should be on that register are on our streets, riding okadas. They are easily identified by their inability to communicate in any Nigerian language. What were we doing when they infiltrated the country? Are they on any database at our entry ports/posts?