Prof. Ibrahim Abubakar, a private security expert on Tuesday said Nigeria can generate over 50 trillion dollars annually from security.
Abubakar disclosed this at a two-day conference on “Managing Security and Security Challenges during the forthcoming general election in Nigeria” in Abuja.
The conference was organised by the House of Representatives’ Committee on National Security and Intelligence.
Delivering a paper titled, ‘Security Challenges and Engineering Applications in National Development’, Abubakar said rather than spending so much on security, much can be generated from the sector.
“Nigeria can generate more than 50 trillion dollars from security service; ten times more than what oil and gas can generate.
“If you go to United Kingdom for example, you do not see fenced houses, people pay for security, how many people do you see with armed security agents or escort- none.
“From your vehicle to everything you can think of in life, there is money to be generated,” he said.
According to Abubakar, the challenges are enormous, a society without security is a society without development so we can’t afford to be stagnant.
He said the only way to address security challenges ravaging the country is by using the platform of securities engineering.
The expert said technology is important because human intelligence is nothing in comparison to advance engineering intelligence.
Abubakar said unlike advanced engineering intelligence, the human intelligence can be easily compromised.
“The moment you have a good monitoring and surveillance system in the country, you will not have problems,” he said.
He said with technology, security officers can sit in the comfort of their offices and detect contents of vehicles, vessels and airplanes.
The expert said officers don’t need to stand on the road or checkpoints to ensure adequate security to citizens.
Abubakar said there is need to change the security and policy framework of the country to achieve a secured society.
He said Nigeria has all it takes to be the largest economy in the world but there was need to address prevailing security challenges.
According to him, each of the 774 Local Government Area (LGA) in the country can generate 2 billion dollars monthly through security services.
