The Defence Headquarters on Monday cautioned Amnesty
International to desist from campaign of calumny against the
Nigerian Armed Forces.
The Acting Director of Defence Information Col. Onyema Nwachukwu
who sounded the warning said AI latest report against troops on
alleged sexual assault in detention facilities in the northeast was
malacious and false.
Col Nwachukwu said in a statement that the report was another
calculated attempt to ridicule the armed forces.
Col. Nwachukwu said: “The Defence Headquarters has taken note of
yet another ill-conceived report by Amnesty International (AI)
aimed at disparaging the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) in the fight
against terrorism and counter-insurgency in the North Eastern part
of the country.
“The AI’s recent allegation that its investigation has revealed
sexual assaults in detention facilities at Giwa Barracks Maiduguri
and the Maiduguri Maximum Security Prison is only a rehash of its
characteristic unfounded and ill-conceived accusations against the
AFN.
” While the AFN will not speak for the authorities of the
Maiduguri Maximum Prison, we wish to emphatically state that such
allegations are mere concoction of the organization and the
interest it seeks to represent.
” The report is nothing but an attempt to push further its
campaign of calumny against the AFN, as the allegations are
remotely impossible.
“It is instructive for AI and their sponsors who may be more
interested in the failure of Nigeria in the ongoing fight against
terrorism and insurgency to note that these accusations are
unfounded and a very poor attempt at dampening the morale of troops
of the AFN.
“The Giwa barracks detention facility is a national facility,
therefore, the suspects or inmates are jointly handled by
professional investigators drawn from the Defence Intelligence
Agency, Nigerian Police, Department of State Security, Nigeria
Immigration Service, the Nigeria Prisons Service and Nigerian
Security and Civil Defence Corps.
“It is therefore, near impossible for these team of
professionals to look the other way, while sexual violations are
perpetrated as wrongly insinuated by AI.
“It is also pertinent to add that the detention facility has
adequate representation of highly professional members of
International Organisations and Non-Governmental Agencies such as
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other
reputable NGOs that have unfettered access to the facility and
scrutinize its activities from time to time in accordance with
international best practices in managing detainees.
“While other reputable international organisations in the North
East and other parts of the country have been working to bring
about enduring peace in the North East, it is rather unfortunate
that AI has impenitently chosen a path that seeks to denigrate the
AFN, a task it has continued to pursue blindly and tenaciously
through its glaring bias reports.
“The DHQ wishes to appeal to members of the public and the
international community to discountenance AI’s malicious report and
continue to give requisite support to the AFN in the fight against
terrorism, insurgency and other forms of criminality in the
country.
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ICT: FG Engages Academia, Stakeholders for Innovation
In its quest to foster rapid revolution, innovation, industrial
growth, and sustainable development in the Nigerian ICT sector, the
Federal Government says it is facilitating greater linkages between
the Academia, stakeholders in the ICT sector and the international
telecommunication union (ITU) for cordial collaboration to attain
the nation’s (ICT) set goals and objectives.
Minister of communications, Dr. Adebayo Shittu, who was
represented by Technical Assistant to the Permanent Secretary, Dr.
Patricks Oghuma disclosed this while addressing participants at the
international conference on Information Technology in Education and
Development (ITED-2019) with the theme “Advancing the Capacities of
Information Technology professionals for Rapid National
Development”, held at Baze University, Abuja.
He said, “We count on the continued engagements of the private
sector and interest groups of ICT professionals to support the
economic policies of this administration. Our destiny with regards
to national development are in our own hands as ICT
professionals”.
Dr. Shittu maintains that the Ministry of Communications will
ensure Nigeria continues its good work within the ITU and also
ensure her interests in relation to the national ICT policy is
protected and enhanced which explains why it has identified the
need to collaborate with academia in the area of research and
national development.
He charged the Academia to undertake focused research, targeted
at solving specific problems, leveraging on its huge students
/talents capacity, adding that they should let the outcome of their
research findings are relevant and useful for the market and
national development in the long run.
The Minister Regretted that these days, universities are being
evaluated based on the number of papers they write and publish
rather than on practical knowledge and result oriented techniques
that companies need.
He described the “mathematics-based science” as a mismatch,
stating that the trend must be changed in tandem with the creative
economic paradigm of the 21st century.
He assures that his Ministry would not rest on its oars to
rejuvenate its mandate by ensuring ICT professionals are always
consulted and engaged, as well as liaise with research think tanks,
relevant scholarly communities for national development.
Highlighting the significance of the conference, the President,
Academic Information Technology Professionals (AITP), Prof. A..A
Obiniyi said the aim of AITP is to enhance quality education and
ensure high impact research in computer science, information
technology and related disciplines, with interest in use of
information technology to enhance national development
He pointed out that the time has come for Nigeria to set a pace
for the establishment of professionalism in the IT, teaching and
related discipline and must therefore brainstorm on how to put
Nigeria on the global map by looking into what we have to get what
we need.
According to him, “we need to explore a new, innovative and
emerging form of research emanating from our laboratories which can
bring to bearing local contents”.