UK diasporan Yunusa Jibrin comes up with AI device that can track terrorist hideouts

NIGERIA may well be on the path of solving its security challenges as UK diasporan Yunusa Jibrin has revealed a new invention which  will allow security forces to leverage on artificial intelligence (AI) to identify bandits and their hideouts.

Over recent years, Nigeria has been in the throes of a security crisis as heavily-armed Fulani cattle herdsmen have made many farms no-go areas across the country. Their livestock destroy farms and when farmers complain, their villages are attacked in bloody orgies that sometimes leave hundreds dead.

Apart from the herdsmen, terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, rape, armed robbery and all forms of other violent crimes are now a daily occurrence across Nigeria. Totally overwhelmed by the situation, Nigeria's security forces are regularly out-gunned by terrorist groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa Province, as well as the well-equipped armed robbers.

To help combat the menace, Mr Jibrin, a Master’s degree graduate in Computer Science from the University of Sussex, said he leveraged AI-driven image synthesis to generate thousands of visual representations depicting bandits in desert environments. He added that his findings, if adopted by the federal government, would help to direct the efforts of the military towards identifying and eliminating bandits wherever they may be hiding in the country.

According to Mr Jibrin,  his research achieved remarkable accuracy in preliminary evaluations by employing the use of a vision transformer VT model to discern terrorist elements. Offering his support, the computer expert from Gombe State emphasised the need for a technology-backed warfare against terror elements in Nigeria.

Mr Jibrin said: “I undertook an innovative approach, leveraging AI-driven image synthesis to generate thousands of visual representations depicting bandits in desert environments, complete with weapons and vehicles. Employing this synthesized dataset, I employed a vision transformer model to discern terrorist elements within the images, achieving remarkable accuracy in preliminary evaluations.

“Moving forward, efforts are underway to formalize these findings, with plans to publish and integrate the developed algorithms into the operational frameworks of the Nigerian government.". He further stated that he would partner with the federal government in the fight against insecurity.