By Sumaila Ogbaje

Prof. Ayo Omotayo, Director-General, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), has called for harmonisation of data for all agencies of government to utilise in addressing national security and developmental challenges.

Omotayo made the call at the opening of the Leadership Course in Data Mining and Geospatial Intelligence, organised by the institute in collaboration with Peace Building Development Consult (PBDC), on Monday Abuja.

The course was being hosted by the Defence Space Administration (DSA).

He lamented that there were different organisations holding large and fertile sets of data that were not connected with any other organisation making it difficult to readily have access to needed data at a given time.

According to him, we find ourselves looking for data that already some people have gathered and that they surely have, that they can easily use.

Omotayo said the course was designed to build an ecosystem of data miners to conserve resources, and be able to interrogate things.

“Our research efforts have shown that a whole lot of data in Nigeria is sitting in isolation. That is, we have data centers that are lonely and have important data on Nigerian citizens on the space and the rest of it.

“So we decided to run this course because we feel that there is a need for synergy amongst the agencies that gather data.

“If you have data sitting at different critical spaces in Nigeria, there should be a need for us to link this data together for the security of the nation.

“Your NIN number should follow you anywhere you go so that whatever you do in the Nigerian space, we can find you at that point, wherever you interact on any space, economic or social.

“We believe that for those who engage in nefarious activities, it will be easy to find them,” he said.

The NIPSS boss said the course was also designed to develop leadership skills in bringing together those who run data centres and those who took critical decisions concerning Nigerian citizens, growing the economy in the business world and everywhere.

He said the institute was partnering with the Defence Space Administration as a critical data centre for Nigeria.

On his part, Mr Kayode Bolaji, Executive Director of PBDC, said the course helps participants to understand their strengths and weaknesses with a view to combining strengths to be able to provide security for the nation.

Bolaji said that data was not just about security and intelligence gathering but also about geo-locating where resources were and knowing which agency or industry to connect with, to be able to assess a particular resource.

He said the current course, being the second in the series, had participants for the private sector, as well from security, intelligence and other government agencies.

He said the course would take advantage of the DSA’s facilities to conduct study tours of all its units to broaden the knowledge of the participants.

“We also expect that they will find a way to connect with security agencies to be able to use some of the data that they have to help in security management.

“That is not something that is common in Nigeria,” he said. (NAN)

Edited by Yakubu Uba