NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 17-President William Ruto has invited Masters and PHD students in the country to develop theses on the country’s security concerns in order to help design policies that will address them.
Speaking Friday when he presided over the inaugural graduation of the National Defence University-Kenya, in Lanet, Nakuru County, Ruto challenged the graduands to consider national security as a fundamental imperative for the country’s collective and transformative progress.
He called on the students to embrace innovation and research while developing solutions to challenges affecting the country and the globe.
“Whether you are in the field, at a command center, in the rooms where policy is made, or in lecture theaters. Always feed curiosity through debate, reinforce innovation with challenging questions, and disrupt productively in order to stay at the cutting edge in a rapidly sharpening world,” he said.
Further President Ruto urged the graduands to be “courageous enough” to embrace emerging approaches and new technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing and innovation in cyber security strategies to protect national interests and critical infrastructures.
He appealed to the country’s defense forces to deploy data and analytics to anticipate threats and develop effective and efficient solutions for the challenges of our time.
The President went on to challenge them to remain alert to opportunities to collaborate across disciplines and enrich their decisions with input from experts in diverse fields.
“This is how you build a sustained capacity to prevail in the face of complex challenges. Always know. that a good idea must give way to a better idea,” he said.
President Ruto pointed out that the country is still grappling with what he described as serious security threats singling out terrorism, radical extremism and radicalization which he adds continuously put pressure on the security of regions and nations.
He cited cases of violent extremism in Lamu and the Northern Kenya which he said requires a change of tack to be addressed.
“I think these are areas If we can get some students to do their thesis, either Masters thesis or PhD thesis, in these fields, it will help us inform our national strategy as we tackle these security challenges,” he said.
The President further disclosed that the government is rolling out a robust digital infrastructure complete with technology across Kenya.
He added that his administration is committed to establishing an ICT hub in every ward across the country.
The President further said that the government is rolling out huge digital infrastructure in the country including digitization of all government services to enhance service delivery to Kenyans
He pointed out that cyber security will be a central requirement for the government to efficiently and effectively use technology as an enabler for the delivery of government services, commerce and to drive our creative economy.
“Students out of this great university need to dig deep into finding ahead of time, the challenges that can come our way and begin to design how we will tackle these challenges,”he said.
NDU educates joint warfighters and other national security leaders in critical thinking and the creative application of military power to inform national strategy and globally integrated operations, under conditions of disruptive change, to prevail in war, peace, and competition.
