Nigeria’s Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) on Monday began its six-day Defence Advisers/Attachés Annual Conference for 2025 with President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, charging the Intelligence agency to deepen bilateral and multilateral partnerships with global communities towards tackling the nation’s security challenges.
Declaring the conference open at the Armed Forces of Nigeria Command Mess Abuja, Senator Akpabio, who was represented by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, Ahmad Lawan, said global security realities had made it imperative for intelligence institutions to strengthen cooperation with allies.
He also explained that the intelligence institutions should share timely information and leverage emerging technologies to counter complex threats evolving in Nigeria.
According to him, national security agencies across the world now rely on multi-source intelligence platforms such as human intelligence, signals intelligence, open-source data, geospatial tools and cyber intelligence to generate actionable insights and anticipate threats.
The Senate President added that the DIA had remained central to Nigeria’s efforts to build a more responsive and resilient intelligence system through data integration, inter-agency collaboration and technological adaptation.
He commended the agency for expanding the scope of the conference to include joint presentations from Defence Advisers and Attachés as well as State Office Coordinators.
He described the approach as strategic in merging domestic and international intelligence perspectives.
“As threats evolve, so must our capacity to collect, process and interpret information across multiple domains in real time,” he said.
He emphasised that the Defence Attaché System remains critical to strengthening defence diplomacy, while state intelligence offices provide ground-level insights needed to counter emerging threats.
He urged Defence Attachés to intensify diplomatic engagements with host nations, while calling on state coordinators to improve collaboration with local security agencies to enhance intelligence collection and utilisation.
“These partnerships are essential in building a coherent and adaptive intelligence framework capable of anticipating and countering threats,” he added.
Akpabio also encouraged participants to explore the potential of artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced data analytics in modern intelligence operations.
He noted that innovation was essential to keeping pace with adversaries who increasingly exploit technology.
The Senate President hailed the Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI), Lieutenant General Emmanuel Undiandeye, for his foresight and commitment to reforming Nigeria’s intelligence system, just as he applauded the contributions of Defence Advisers, Attachés and State intelligence personnel.
“Our success in defending Nigeria depends on our ability to anticipate threats, connect information across domains and act decisively on informed insights,” he added.
The conference, which was attended by dignitaries including the Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru, is themed: “The Role of Multi-Source Intelligence Innovation in National Security.”
General Udiandeye, who welcomed the guests and participants, acknowledged there’s an uptick in security challenges particularly the recent kidnapping of students in the North.
But he noted the evolving and transnational nature of the security challenges and the need to develop new strategies to tackle the issues.
Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, who spoke to the participants, said Nigeria’s security challenges are contested as the adversaries have become increasingly sophisticated.
Badaru added that to stay ahead, the intelligence system must be strategic, tasking them to come up with operationally useful recommendations.