Abubakar Adamu began his military career with the Nigerian Army in 1987, years before the World Wide Web was invented and long before any place in the world had heard of, much less connected to, the internet. In 35 years of service, he watched as his career evolved alongside the digital revolution.
An officer in communications and data processing, retired Maj. Gen. Adamu became the first commander of the Army’s Cyber Warfare Command in 2022. He played a significant role in helping Nigeria leverage technology to build its digitally enabled intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.
Today, he advocates for expanding digital ISR capacity throughout Africa to help fight increasingly sophisticated terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, which grew in power and spread across the Lake Chad region during Adamu’s time in the Army.
“Technology is the driving force for what we are doing, whether in a crisis or in peaceful times,” he said during a December 3 webinar hosted by the Africa Center for Security Studies. “There’s a lot of collaboration between all the agencies. Where one agency doesn’t have adequate tools, we now collaborate with all the agencies that have them.”
As well-funded terrorist groups continue to innovate, adapt and expand in an increasingly complex landscape, African security forces must embrace the use of digital ISR tools and expand capacity to protect civilians and secure territory.
Open-source intelligence (OSINT), real-time social media monitoring, and other digital tools that process and integrate data and intelligence across multiple domains help governments and militaries stay ahead of terrorists through improved ISR capabilities.
“We do sentiment analysis for people that are online, particularly using Meta or Facebook, and also we respond to changing narratives,” Adamu said. “We use Maltego investigative software at various times, particularly for metadata, to get all of what people are discussing, particularly on the dark web and other domains, and to fight extremist propaganda and recruitment on the internet.”
Ahmed Labaran of the Nigeria Customs Service recently wrote an article about how the combination of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) and OSINT hold significant promise for law enforcement.
“A new paradigm of knowledge, almost a discipline in itself, GEOINT combines satellite imagery, geographic information systems, remote sensing, positioning data and analytics to provide a visual representation of geographic features, activities and changes over time,” he wrote in the October 27 edition of the World Customs Organization’s quarterly magazine.
“The use of OSINT in conflict zones has been critical. Geodata is useful for the planning of operations near humanitarian camps or the delivery of aid. However, before sharing any data related to these areas, administrations must ensure that analytical models are non-discriminatory and free from political bias, especially where community dynamics are sensitive.”
Experts laud the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) for offering an effective blueprint to other African countries seeking to create institutions that can improve counterterrorism efforts online. In addition to Nigeria’s Cyber Warfare Command, the AFN established the Defence Space Administration in 2016 to develop and provide space and cyberspace capabilities.
Adamu acknowledged that there are many challenges in deploying and relying on technology on a continent that is still developing.
“Most of the products we get, we get them from outside,” he said. “We need to do a lot of collaboration both within Africa and outside. So, we need to build our infrastructure and also build a lot of capacity, and also we must have reliable supply-chain management.”
Adamu warned that nonstate actors are using these same technologies, which underscores the need for African militaries to innovate, anticipate and stay ahead. He urged every country that is fighting terrorism to incorporate modern ISR tools to strengthen situational awareness, accelerate decision-making and refine operational effectiveness.
“African governments should prioritize the harmonization of policies related to ISR, particularly those in supply chains and data governance,” he said. “Individual nations investing in technological solutions that can be used in regional collaboration will be a lot of help.”
“Nigeria also has a national cybersecurity strategy. I think it needs to be extended to others for adoption, and then we can work in collaboration with all of the African countries, particularly our neighbors, because nobody is in control when it comes to technology.”