Deputy Speaker, Kalu Seeks Appointment Of Chief of Space Staff For Proactive Space Surveillance

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu has urged the federal government to consider appointing a Space Service Chief, or Chief of Space Staff, to head the Space Command Force, for proactive space security.

He said this is in addition to the existence of Service Chiefs and Heads of Security Agencies, appealing to the Federal Government to take the surveillance and security of the country’s space seriously.

Kalu, representing Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State spoke at the closing ceremony of a 2-day post-inauguration retreat organised for Members of the House Committee on Defence by the National Defence College, Abuja.

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The Deputy Speaker said it was high time Nigeria moved from the usual and known mechanism for fighting insurgencies, saying the battle should also be taken into the space, to achieve the unusual results.

“I have seen you also struggle to meet the challenges and the dynamic demands of security, all of which are issues that have gone around the space.

“In some countries, you have Space Service Chiefs, what are we doing about that? There is a need for one to be created. We are beyond what is obvious.

“Some of the warfare is now taking place in the space. And I can assure you, we ignore that. We will not be doing justice to the mandate of protecting the territorial borders of this country.

“So, it is high time we started looking beyond what happens here, think about what happens up there, the space”, Kalu said.

He stressed that appointing a Space Service Chief to head a Space Command is important, as most warfares now are done in Space or cyber operations, adding that Nigeria must be prepared to structure “our preventive operations before we are hit . It calls for deeper conversations as the Parliament will be willing to support this initiative”. He added.

Kalu, however, submitted that internal security of the country should be for the Nigeria Police and they should be allowed and supported to employ more hands, “to enable the Military to operate within their areas of competence and training which is not internal security”.

On his part, the Chairman, House Committee on Defence, Babajimi Benson, lauded the quality leadership presented by the Tajudeen Abbas-led 10th House of Representatives, assuring that the Committee would work closely with the Defence sector, to achieve the legislative agenda of the Green Chamber, as well as nipping insecurity to the bud in Nigeria.