Use of drone as a panacea to curbing insecurity

On Tuesday morning an estimated 34 persons were mercilessly gunned down by bandits while they were observing the morning prayers (subh) in the mosque at Gidan Mantau in Malumfashi LGA Katsina State. This attack was as a result of the villagers ambushing some bandits earlier, where some were killed and persons kidnapped were freed. Following […]

On Tuesday morning an estimated 34 persons were mercilessly gunned down by bandits while they were observing the morning prayers (subh) in the mosque at Gidan Mantau in Malumfashi LGA Katsina State. This attack was as a result of the villagers ambushing some bandits earlier, where some were killed and persons kidnapped were freed. Following the attack, the Katsina State Government has appealed to the federal government to come to its aid and provide comprehensive security support to protect the people of the state as the bandits are becoming more brazen with each attack.

The government on its part has continued to recruit more soldiers and procuring military hardware for the  purpose of securing the country. The Buhari-led administration purchased 32 fighter jets for this purpose and it was recently announced by the Nigerian Air Force will acquire  49 more.

While these are laudable efforts by the FG, there is need for Nigeria to invest more in unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) which can be used for combat purposes. Drones are relatively cheap and combat proven to make a difference in several battle fields. A drone  does not have an onboard human pilot, it can be they operated from a remote terminal and can easily be deployed in intelligence gathering, data collection and most importantly, combat operations, as it can easily be used in not only intercepting and foiling the operations of the bandits, but attacking their bases, it also has missile carrying capabilities. It will not only save the lives of citizens and Nigerian soldiers, it will also discourage the bandits from carrying out ceaseless attacks on the civilian populace because they know drones can easily be deployed to engage them, unlike fighter planes.

The effectiveness of drones has been seen in a number of conflicts, for instance, during the Tigray war in Ethiopia  (2020-2022) the deployment of combat drones by the Ethiopian government was decisive in pushing back the rebel group from the Tigray region, which was bent on taking over the capital Addis Ababa. Also, the 12-day Iran-Israel war was largely fought using drones. Hence, there is the need for Nigeria to follow suit and invest heavily in combat drones. We should be mindful that if the insecurity continue to linger, there is a possibility the bandits can procure the drone technology (God forbid) because of the income they generate in their illicit kidnapping and mining businesses. This will make the fight against banditry more complex for the nation. However, if drones are procured, there is the need to use the technology properly, as it has the potential to cause substantial damage, most especially to the civilian populace, but it is a fact that the drone technology must be deployed massively in Nigeria to not only secure the country, but to  put to bed the rising insecurity.  

Aliyu Ibrahim, PhD can be reached via [email protected]