The Escalating Nigeria National Security Challenge: Smart Objects and Internet-Of-Things to the rescue

International journal of Computer Networking and Communication (IJCNAC)Vol. 1, No. 1(August -2013) 57
www.arpublication.org
The Escalating Nigeria National Security
Challenge: Smart Objects and Internet-Of-Things
to the rescue
Obodoeze F.C.1
, Ozioko F.E.2
, Okoye F.A.3
Mba C.N4
, Ozue T.I.5
, Ofoegbu E.O.6
1
Department of Computer Science, Renaissance University Enugu, Nigeria
1
fidelisobodoeze@gmail.com
2,3
Department of Computer and Information Science, Enugu State University of Science and Technology
(ESUT), Enugu, Nigeria
2
ekene.ozioko@esut.edu.ng, 3
francisced@esut.edu.ng
4
Department of Computer Engineering, Caritas University Enugu, Nigeria
4
mbacally@yahoo.com
5
Nyzpat Technologies, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
5
thankjehovah@gmail.com
6
Department of Physics Electronics, Oduduwa University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
6
edoxnt@yahoo.com
Abstract
Since October 1st
2011, when Nigeria Federal Govenrment marked Nigerian’s 51st
National Indepedence celebration at Eagles Square Abuja that witnessed the first bomb
blast in the country, there have been a catalogue of avalanche of security challenges
throughout the country ranging from bomb blasts, suicide bombings, terrorist attacks,
kidnapping for ransoms, ritual killings, political assassinations and political brigande,
crude oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism, armed robbery but to mention a few. The
Federal and State governments have made much effort through the engagement of the
law enforcement agencies and security forces such as Police, Joint Military Task Force
(JTF), State Security Service (SSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defnce Corps (NSCDC)
but their combined effort have not yielded much positive result towards arresting these
security menace.This paper attempts to proffer a security solution framework using newly
emerging security technological solutions known as “smart objects” and “internet-of-
things”, combining the cooperative efforts of security technologies such as Wireless
Sensor and Actuator Networks(WSANs), Global Positioning System (GPS), IP
surveillance using specialized cameras and Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV)
and fusing their cooperative outputs into the Internet using novelty telecommunication
networks such as Wi-Fi, 3G, ZigBee, Internet Protocol (IP) to aid security agents to
track, trace, apprehend and prosecute the culprits who perpetuate these security
challenges.
Keywords: Smart objects, Internet-of-Things (IoT), Global Positioning System (GPS),
RFID, Wireless Sensor Network(WSN), aerial surveillance, IP cameras
1. INTRODUCTION
Since October 1, 2011 when Nigeria Federal Government marked the nation’s 51st
Independence anniversary at Eagles Square Abuja, the nation has not known peace. The first

58
Nigerian bomb blast, which claimed no less than 31 lives at the vicinity of Eagles Square Abuja
during the 51st
Independnce annivsersary celebration, was the first bomb blas Nigeria had ever
witnessed and even with high casualty figure. This first bomb blast at Eagles Square acted as a
catalyst for more bomb blasts and suicide bombings at public buildings, churches, mosques,
schools, military formations, police posts, banks, UN building in Abuja, Police Headquarters
Abuja, etc. by the dreaded Islamic fundamentalists known as ‘Boko Haram” which means
“Western education is sin” who is fighting for enthronement of Islamic system of government in
Nigeria. The number of casualties and destructions as a result of these bombings and shootings by
Boko Haram, predominantly in Northern parts of Nigeria, has reached a disturbing rate, statistics
has it that more than 3,300 persons have been killed as a result of this insurgence. This security
challenge posed by this islamic insurgence in Northern parts of Nigeria is not the only one in
Nigeria; downwards in the Southern parts of the country such as South East, South South, and
recently South West, other security challenges such as kidnapping for ransom, ritual killings, cult
wars, armed robbery especially bank robberies, car snatchings and hijackings and the most
worrisome of all of them, crude oil bunkering and oil pipeline vandalism, predominantly in the
Niger Delta region of the country, which bears all the crude oil installations and exports of the
country. In the South East and South South, kidnapping for ransom has reached an alarming
proportion; there is not a single day in these regions that persons are not kidnapped and the
kidnappers usually target persons of wealthy background or their relatives in order to cough out
huge sums of money from them as ransoms. The ransoms usually range from at least $100,000 in
most cases to up to $1million, and even more in some cases depending on the economic status of
the victim or his/her rich relatives. The victims are not usually released by the kidnappers until all
or huge part of the ransom money have been paid by their relatives or they are luckily rescued by
combined effort of security agencies such as Police, State Security Services (SSS) but in the
majority of the reported and unreported cases, people are paying up the ransom money in order to
secure the release of their kit and kin without any hurt (as some victims have been reported shot
dead as a result of botched attempted rescue efforts by the security operatives).
In the Niger Delta region which bears Nigerian most crude oil earnings from exports
accounting for over 86% of Nigerian annual income, the major security challenge which is
threatening the economic base of the country is the activities of crude oil thieves and vandals who
vandalise major crude oil pipelines transporting crude oil and other petroleum products from
Niger Delta oil wells, flow stations to the refineries or depots in other parts of the country. These
economic criminals have set up numerous illegal refineries scattered all over Niger Delta region
with the sole purpose of refining their illegally bunkered crude oil into useful petroleum products
such as kerosene (DPK), Gas Oil (Diesel) and Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) for sale. These
criminals collaborate with security personnel, compromise them to turn their eyes the other way
to allow them steal crude oil from vandalized pipelines unabated. According to a report by Shell
Petroleum, one of the major International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in Niger Delta region
of Nigeria, Nigeria loses about 2 billion US dollars annually as a result of activities of crude oil
thieves and pipeline vandals who profit illegally from crude oil theft in the Niger Delta region [1].
The Nigerian Federal Government, under the leadership of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has tried
unsuccessfully to stop the major security and economic menace in the Niger Delta region; the
Federal government has made extensive investments as well as the IOCs, to bring the security and
economic menace under control but the methodology of tackling these insecurity menaces by the
government has always been the same: vote more money to purchase operational vehicles and
equipment for the Police, Joint Military Taskforce (JTF), the Navy, State Security Servives
(SSS), Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), recruit more security operatives,

issue orders for arbitrary arrests or give shoot-at-sight orders, urges all security agencies to
collaborate on intelligence gathering and sharing, counter-intelligence but all these efforts have
not yielded the much desired results due to obvious reasons: lack of application or inappropriate
application of Information Technology (IT) and the problem of corruption prevalent amongst the
security forces and government civil servants. Law enforcements as well as security maintenance
is not only about carrying arms about and patrolling the neighbourhood but in this 21st
century,
intelligence gathering and intelligence sharing using innovative IT security solutions can be
applied to produce desired effective results. Until Nigerias law enforcement agents and security
forces are trained on how to use these available IT security tools to gather intelligence data from
the community/neighborhood, share these data amongst the security organs, and use these data to
trace, track, apprehend and prosecute the criminals in the court of law successfully and logically,
the fight against the upsurge of violent crimes and security menace such as kidnapping, armed
robbery, ritual killings, cult wars, car jacking, terrorism and political assissinations cannot be
won.
Globally, Information Technology (IT) has been adopted in the developed world as a
veritable tool in combating the menace of insecurity. One of the approaches of addressing the
problem of insecurity is the use of Information Technology (IT) such as Cyberspace or
Cybersecurity and Telecommunication networks [2]. Cybersecurity is the body of technologies,
processes, practices and methodologies designed to protect networks, programs and data from
attack, damage or unauthorized access [3]. Cybersecurity can be combined effectively with other
IT tools such as security surveillance which includes aerial surveillance using different types of
smart cooperating objects such as wireless and actuator networks (WSANs), security cameras
such as IP cameras, Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV), Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) and other smart cooperating objects to fuse intelligent data from different installed
strategic locations or flashpoints in towns, villages, hotels, public utilities, market, shopping
mails, airports, bus stations, religion and worship centres, military formations, police posts,
foreign missions and embassies, crude oil pipelines and oil facilities to a centralized database
which can be accessed and used by law enforcement agencies and security forces 24/7 to be able
to nip security threat in the bud before it occurs like bomb blasts, kidnapping or armed robbery or
proactively assisting in tracking down criminals or perpetrators and their sponsors anywhere they
hide in the country and bring them to face the full weight of the law.
1.1 The Objectives of this Paper
This paper is a holistic survey and examinationa of current Nigeria state of Security and how
different elements of smart cooperating objects such as wireless sensor and actuator networks
(WSANs), Surveillance IP cameras, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Global Positioning
System (GPS) which can be used to provide 24-hour complete surveillance and monitoring
capabilities for the major locations or flashpoints in the country where these indentified security
challenges subsist and how the real-time data obtained from them can fused together to a
centralized database for use by security and law enforcement operatives in order to reduce or
arrest incidences of these security challenges in Nigeria.
At the end of the paper, we will present a holistic implementation framework on how these
smart cooperating objects can be fused together to gather intelligence security data that can help
law enforcement and security operatives arrest these identified national security challenges. In the
future we will design an implementation model and perform simulation experiments to validate
our proposed national security framework for Nigeria.

60
1.2 Related Work
There is dearth of research work on implementation framework to tackle Nigeria’s current
national security challenge. Various security challenges facing Nigeria such as terrorism, armed
robbery, kidnapping, cult wars, religious fundamentalism etc. were highlighted by authors in [2].
Here, they proposed a national security implementation framework to solve these myriads of
security challenge using Global Positioning System (GPS) only but from our survey of various
security challenges facing Nigeria, GPS alone cannot tackle these security challenges but require
the fusion of the latest available cutting-edge surveillance technologies using smart cooperating
objects and Internet-Of-Things (IoT).
2. SMART COOPERATING OBJECTS AND INTERNET-OF-THINGS (IoT)
A smart object is a small computing device that will also have a sensor or actuator as well as
a means of communication – mostly, but not always, wireless communication [4]. Smarts objects
are embedded in other larger objects and systems including industrial machinery, car engines and
lighting and heating systems. Smart objects are the technical drivers behind the smart ecosystems
that are emerging in many diverse environments and applications and are the enablers of
innovations in monitoring and automation for homes and industrial plants as well as the smart
grid and energy efficiency systems. The potential application domains for smart objects is vast –
from ad-hoc emergency response systems to smart transport infrastructure for urban areas.
The key property of a smart object is its capacity for bidirectional communication. Diverse
measurements can be taken of environmental characteristics such as humidity, temperature, wind
speed, pressure, vibration and energy consumption. In addition to measurements, the sensors in
smart objects can also perform detection of elements in an environment such as pollutants or the
presence of a chemical or an intruder.
Smart objects are generally low-powered battery operated devices and will have a CPU and
memory. Their form factor is small and the goal is that their price should be low – this was not
always the case with wireless sensors but prices have lowered in recent years.
The Internet-of-Things (IoT) refers to uniquely identifiable objects (things) and their virtual
representations in an Internet-like structure. The term Internet-of-Things was first used by Kevin
Ashton in 1999 [5, 6]. The concept of the Internet of Things first became popular through the
Auto-ID Center and related market analysts publications [5]. Radio-frequency identification
(RFID) is often seen as a prerequisite for the Internet of Things. If all objects and people in daily
life were equipped with radio tags, they could be identified and inventoried by computers. Other
smart objects such as wireless sensors, actuators, surveillance cameras, GPS trackers can be
combined with RFID to enable a complete Internet-of-Things which is desperately needed to
tackle myriads of security challenges bedeviling Nigeria. Fig. 1 shows the roadmap of the
Internet of Things (IoT).
2.1 RFID
RFID- Radio Frequency IDentification is a a technology that uses tiny computer chips smaller
than a grain of sand to track items at a distance. RFID "spy chips" have been hidden in the
packaging of Gillette razor products and in other products you might buy at a local Wal-Mart,
Target, or Tesco - and they are already being used to spy on people in the United States of
America (USA) [8]. RFID eqully means of storing and retrieving data through electromagnetic

transmission to an RF (Radio Frequency) compatible integrated circuit. It is typically used to
label and track items in supermarkets and warehouses. There are two parts to the RFID system -
1. The tag, the simplest version is a tiny microchip that contains a code identifying the thing to
which it is attached / glued to. The microchip is often connected to a flat spiral aerial that allows
it to work by radio signals and 2. The Reader which is a machine that sends a radio signal to the
tag asking for its code. The tag senses the request and sends back its unique code. The reader can
then connect to a computer or database and uses the code to identify what the object is (or the
identity of the person the tag is attached to). The system works over a foot or so, which is fine
when the tags are guaranteed to be close to the reader. The handy thing about the tag is that it
needs no power at all - no battery needed. This is because the reader sends it enough radio power
Fig. 1 The roadmap of the Internet of Things (IoT)[7]
to turn on whilst it is being interrogated [9]. Fig. 2 shows the typical magnified image of actual
tag found in Gillette Mach3 razor blades; the chip appears as the tiny black square component.
The coil of wires surrounding the chip is the antenna, which transmits your information to a
reader device, which can be located anywhere. In USA, Wal-Mart and Tesco, among many
others, use RFID systems for management of their supply chains [10]. RFID tags can be
categories as active, passive and semi-passive (or indeed, semi-active) tags. An active tag has a
battery-powered radio transceiver whereas a passive tag operates without any battery. The latter
achieves this by reflecting the RF signal transmitted to it from a reader or transceiver and adds its
own data to the signal. Similarly, semi-passive tags use the radio waves of other senders as the
energy source for transmitting their data. Unlike passive tags, however, semi-passive tags may
have batteries to maintain memory or power other functions. It is not surprising to note that active
tags are the most powerful RFID tags available given their larger range, memory and
functionality but are also more expensive.
Software agents and
advanced sensor
fusion
2000 2010 2020 Time
RFID tags for
facilitating routing,
inventorying, and
loss prevention
Surveilance, security,
healthcare, transport,
food security, document
management
Locating people and
everyday objects
Teleoperation and
telepresence: Ability
to monitor and
control
Supply-Chain Helpers
Vertical-Market Applications
Ubiquitous Positioning
Physical-World Web
Demand for expedited
logistics
Cost reducation leading
to diffusion into 2
nd
wave of applications
Ability of devices located
indoors to receive
geolocation signals
Miniaturization, power-
efficient electronics, and
available spectrum
Technology Reach

62
Fig.2 A magnified image of actual tag found in Gillette Mach3 razor blades [8]
Sensing capabilities can be added to RFID tags using the same RFID protocols for reading
the tag’s ID. Tags will either have integrated sensors or will allow for adding additional sensors.
A number of vendors are offering RFID tags with sensing capability. RFID and wireless sensors
are natural complements for supply chain applications as the latter can be used for monitoring
temperature in the chill chain and other situations where the recording of environmental
conditions is imperative for the preservation of the goods being transported.
RFID readers can also be combined with an RF transceiver. Such a wireless device can sense
environmental conditions and read IDs from tagged objects as well as transmitting this
information to a data capture portal such as Vertoda. The integration of RFID into an ad-hoc
WSN opens up many new applications. For example, a healthcare system that leverages RFID
and wireless sensor technologies can monitor not only the patient’s vital signs but also their
medicine and pill bottles to track when a bottle is removed or replaced by a patient. Automated
asset tracking and inventory management would also be facilitated by combining these two
technologies [10]. Vehicle tracking to reduce incidences of car jacking in Nigeria can benefit
from the combination of these technologies. Global System for Mobile Telecommunication
(GSM) or satellite communications can be used with GPS or RFID to track kidnapped victims
and their captors or kidnappers wherever they are so that the victims can be rescued while the
kidnappers are arrested to face the full weight of the law. RFID technology also can be used for
the provision of homeland security; homeland security is needed badly in Nigeria where the
scourge of terrorism, bombings, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape is the order of the day.
Homeland security also can cover border protection and management. In the Northern parts of
Nigeria, porous borders is the reason why Islamic insurgents find it easy to enter Nigeria through
the numerous porous borders with Chad, Niger Republic, Cameroun. These porous boarders
cannot be manned successfully by Customs or security agents, RFID technology can be used in
manning these porous boarders just as it is done in the United States of America (USA) [11].
2.2 GPS
When people talk about "a GPS," they usually mean a GPS receiver. The Global Positioning
System (GPS) is actually a constellation of 27 Earth-orbiting satellites (24 in operation and three
extras in case one fails). The U.S. military developed and implemented this satellite network as a
military navigation system, but soon opened it up to everybody else.
Each of these 3,000 to 4,000-pound solar-powered satellites circles the globe at about 12,000
miles (19,300 km), making two complete rotations every day. The orbits are arranged so that at
any time, anywhere on Earth, there are at least four satellites "visible" in the sky. A GPS
receiver's job is to locate four or more of these satellites, figure out the distance to each, and use
this information to deduce its own location. This operation is based on a simple mathematical

principle called trilateration[12]. Fig.3 shows a typical GPS with multiple satellites (four
satellites) with signals used to calculate the position of an object on earth’s surface. Fig.4 shows a
flowchart depicting how a typical GPS tracking system works.
Fig. 3 GPS system with multiple satellites used to locate the position of an object on earth the
surface[12]
Fig. 4 The typical workings of a GPS tracking System
START
GPS Tracker connects to the
nearest satellite network
The satellite sends the GPS
location info to the GPS
Is GPRS
Available?
- Byteworks GPS tracker,
- Store the GPS location,
timestamp and vehicle info like
speed, battery level, etc in SD
CARD and send it later to
byteworks GPS Server when
GPRS is now available
- Byteworks GPS tracker,
- Send GPS location
information,
- timestamp and vehicle
info like speed, battery
level, etc in SD CARD
and send it later to
byteworks GPS Server
for database storage
NO YES
- Web interface
- Extract the data from byteworks
GPS database and plot on the
map
STOP

64
2.3 Surveillance IP cameras
Surveillance Internet Protocol (IP) cameras, also called network cameras, can combine
camera and computing capabilities into a single unit. These cameras are security cameras that can
capture video footages and still images (photos) of a security event such as (breach or threat) real-
time and transmit the captured file using wireless or wired communication links onto a PC Server
installed with video management software and/or graphic viewer. A Wireless IP camera is an IP
camera that utilizes wireless radio communication networks such as Bluetooth, Infrared, Wi-Fi,
Zigbee, 3G, or any of the WLAN to transmit or transport captured video/image to a PC server
with video management software or to a centralized database and then to a webserver so that the
captured images or videos can be viewed from web-based interface using standard browers.
Surveillance cameras are especially good for monitoring equipment, asset, utilities, the
environment (such as streets or public places) to pick video footage of any security breach. This
can lead to the tracking, arrest and prosecution of criminals such as armed robbers, assonists,
burglars, terrorists, kidnappers, etc. even after crimes have been committed because of the video
or photo evidence.
2.3.1 Considerations when choosing a network/surveillance camera [13]:
Many factors should be considered before selecting a surveillance IP camera for a security
surveillance application such as public utilities, oil and gas pipelines, critical facilities or military
formations. There are different types of IP surveillance cameras based on the following features:
• fixed,
• day/night,
• wireless,
• indoor,
• outdoor and PZT, etc.
• camera multi-function capability
For an IP surveillance camera suitable for monitoring critical public utilities such as remote
oil and gas pipeline to capture real-time scene of vandalisation, the following features must be
present:
1. Day and night capability- because vandalisation can occur at any time in any oil and gas
pipelines, in fact most of the reported vandalisation of oil pipelines in Nigeria occurred at nights
[14].
2. Wireless capability – surveillance camera suitable for monitoring critical facilities such as oil
and gas pipeline monitoring must utilize wireless communication network to be able to transport
the captured video wirelessly to the central gateway and control station for viewing, otherwise the
vandals can destroy the captured file.
3. Outdoor capability – An outdoor capability or IP65 features is required by a surveillance
camera to be able to monitor critical public facilities especially facilities in remote fields such as
oil pipelines that are installed where people are not living. Such camera should be able to
withstand tough and harsh weather conditions such as rain, sunlight and strong wind.

4. Miniature camera size - Security surveillance cameras come in different sizes: small to
medium to big sizes. In general, the smaller the better, because the smaller ones are not easy to
attract attention especially when they are installed in unattended hostile environments where they
can easily be seen and destroyed by vandals or criminals.
Fig. 5 depicts typical Cisco 2500 Series Video Surveillance IP Cameras used for security
surveillance application. The Cisco Video Surveillance 2500 Series IP Cameras are feature-rich,
professional digital cameras designed for superior performance in a wide variety of environments.
The cameras have an enhanced, progressive scan imager for excellent video and color, even in the
most demanding lighting conditions. They use MPEG-4 compression to produce DVD-quality
video. These fully featured high-resolution cameras include automatic day/night mode, dual
streams, bidirectional audio, motion detection, alarm inputs and outputs, and an analog BNC for
ease of installation.
Fig. 5. Cisco 2500 Series Video security Surveillance IP cameras [15]
Fig. 6. Libelium video/image IP surveillance camera board with inserted PIR presence detector
(an actuator), LDR sensors and 22 LEDS to aid night vision [16]
Fig. 6 depicts a wireless IP surveillance video camera (built by Libelium) that is capable of
capturing vandalisation image or video whether in the night or during daylight wherever it is
deployed in any section of the oil pipeline infrastructure or any public utility that is at risk of
vandalisation or sabotage. It uses ZigBee, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi protocols to send low bandwidth

66
data and high speed W-CDMA and HSPA mobile networks to upload high bandwidth data such
as video/image. It uses 3G network module with inbuilt SD card with 2GB (extended up to
32GB) to store the photos and videos taken by the Video Camera Sensor Board without the need
of being handled by the node Micro Controller Unit (MCU). Close Circuit Television Camera
(CCTV) is another special IP surveillance camera that can be used for security surveillance of
properties, public and private utilities, roads, streets, markets, shopping malls, airports etc. to
gather real-time data of events as they occur; any security breach could likely be picked up and
the footage sent to the viewing monitor or a centralized database for viewing later on. The
footage can be used to see and track criminals like kidnappers, armed robbers, rapists, terrorists
etc. and apprehend them.
2.4 Wireless Sensor Actuator Network (WSAN)
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are IEEE 802.15.4 enabled devices capable of robust and
reliable multi-hop communications [17],[18]. Wireless sensors can be deployed in unattended
environments and can enable collection of data from there to distant base stations and then to
control room [19],[20]. Wireless sensors have found useful applications in varying number of
civilian and military applications because of their low-cost and ease of deployment [18],[21],[22].
Because of these inherent and other advantages, wireless sensor networks have found useful
applications in environmental monitoring applications especially in oil and gas fields. Wireless
Sensor Networks (WSN) can be combined with Wireless Actuator Networks to form Wireless
Sensor Actuator Network (WSAN) which can interact and cooperate together especially in
critical security applications. For instance wireless sensors and actuators can be combined
effectively in perimeter security applications; the wireless sensors can sense and detect the
intrusion using diverse technologies such as Infrareds and the output from the sensor can be
combined with an actuator input to trigger an alarm or alert and activates a surveillance IP camera
to record the video or photo of such security breach and send it to a PC server for viewing later in
order to apprehend the criminal. WSANs can equally be integrated with GPS and RFID for
effective security monitoring and surveillance. Fig. 7 depicts a typical wireless sensor nodes or
units installed by prominent International Oil and Gas Company (IOC), Shell Petroleum and
Development Company (SPDC) in over her 1000 oil wells scattered in Nigeria Niger Delta region
to monitor her installed oil pipelines, oil wells, flow stations and rigs to prevent and reduce
vandalism and oil theft. Some wireless sensors with the integration of GPS can be used to sense
and detect presence of bombs and the locations where they are planted by terrorists and this can
help to detect undetonated and unexploded bombs and their locations immediately by security
experts in order to save lives.
Fig.7 A model of vMBusX-SP battery-powered Smart Wireless Sensor installed by SPDC
in her over 1000 oil wells and other oil facilities in the fields of Niger Delta to fight
vandalism and theft [22]

WSANs have many diverse applications. However, it is only through the integration of
WSANs with multimedia security cameras such as Close Circuit Television Camera (CCTV),
Internet Protocol (IP) cameras, Complemetary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) video
cameras etc. with GPS and RFID that WSANs can offer a comprehensive security solution to
meet all tracking and monitoring needs for an effectively secure environment.
3. THE PROPOSED NIGERIAN NATIONAL ART COOPERATING OBJECTS
AND INTERNET-OF-THINGS (IOTS)
In this section, we present and describe the implementation framework for integrating
surveillance, tracking and monitoring smart objects of RFID, GPS, WSAN and specialized
Internet Protocol (IP) cameras which can be fused together to obtain security data or reports from
different security flashpoints or locations all over the country as shown in Fig.8.
Fig. 8 The Proposed Nigeria National Security Framework
Here in the Fig.8, there is a correlation of security data from different installed locations in
public places, streets, banks, market, shopping malls, airports, seaports, schools, public utilities,
oil and gas pipelines and other oil installations, government buildings, police posts and
checkpoints, military formations and facilities, borders etc. into a common Gateway which is then
routed to a secure Centralised Database from which the data can be accessed by logging on to a
secure Centralised Internet or Intranet portal by various law enforcement and security agencies
from their respective Servers and clients (such as mobile phones, PDAs, smartphones etc.) with
appropriate authentications and authorizations.
The Common Gateway module of the proposed National Security Framework in Fig.8 is a
fusion of many gateways for RFID tracking objects, GPS tracking objects, WSAN tracking
objects, surveillance security cameras. A software methodology is used to combine them
effectively into a common gateway so that they can come together and their output data
Common
Gateway
for
Wireless sensors,
RFID objects,
GPS satellite
objects, Security
surveillance
cameras from
different
flashpoints and
locations in the
country
Secure Central
Internet or
Intranet portal
(enabled with
Cybersecurity)
Server at Office of
the National
Security Adviser
(NSA)
Secure
Centralise
d
Database
Nigerian
Police
Server
SSS
Server
JTF
Server
NSCDC
ServerNigerian Navy
Server
Wireless and
Actuator
Sensor
Network
(WSAN) nodes
or objects
RFID tracking
objects
GPS satellite
objects
Surveillance IP
cameras (with
night vision)
Nigerian
Customs
Server

68
channeled into a common central database and then to a common internet/intranet portal so that
law enforcement and security agencies can access the portal real-time and get updated
information about any security lapse, threat or attack anywhere in the country. Fig.9. depicts the
conglomeration of security gateways that make up the common gateway in Fig.8.
Fig. 9 The integration of different gateways from WSAN, RFID, GPS and surveillance security
cameras into a common gateway
4. CONCLUSION
Nigeria is currently facing enormous security challenges especially terrorism and violent
crimes. Smart objects and Internet-of-Things can help Nigeria to combat terrorism and other
forms of violent crimes by fusing the intelligent ouputs of smart cooperating objects and Internet-
of-Things (IoT) adopting monitoring/surveillance technologies such as RFID, GPS, WSAN and
surveillance IP cameras. In this paper we proposed a national security framework which is
designed to integrate the outputs of these various smart security technologies into a common
security gateway and database in such a way it can be accessed by the major law enforcement and
security agencies such as the Police, JTF, NSCDC, SSS, Customs, NDLEA through their
servers/clients connected via a web-based portal interface at any time from any region of the
country. This will enhance intelligence sharing and security collaboration which can help security
agencies nip violent crimes and terroris at the bud. We earnestly believe that our proposed
security framework, when implemented, can go along way in fusing the surveillance and
intelligence data gathered from these innovative security tools so that law enforcement agencies
and security forces can tackle these security challenges successfully by preemptively preventing
security breaches and challenges and proactively tackling these security challenges by helping to
trace, track, arrest and prosecute the criminals that perpetuated these security challenges.
4.1 Future Work
The researchers intend to carry out further research on the subject topic by designing an
implementation model and then carry out simulation experiments of the proposed Nigeria
national security framework using the designed model that can fuse the cooperative outputs of the
these identified smart objects and Internet-oF-Things(IoT).
RFID
Gateway
WSAN
Gateway
GPS
Gateway
Surveillance camera
Gateway
Common
Security
Gateway

REFERENCES
[1] J.L. Akinode, Improving National Security using GPS tracking system technology, Mediterranean
Journal of Social Sciences, vol.2(5), October 2011, pp.76.
[2] TechTarget.com, Cybersecurity definition, Retrieved online on July 23, 2013 at
http://www.techtarget.com/definition/cybersecurity.html
[3] Marton, Using IP for Smart Objects and ‘The Internet of Things’, December 22,2009.
Retrieved online on April 2, 2013 at http://vertoda.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/using-ip- for-
smart-objects-and-the-internet-of-things/
[4] Kevin Ashton, That 'Internet of Things' Thing, In: RFID Journal, 22 July 2009. Retrieved online
on 26 July 2013.
[5] Wikipedia, Internet of Things, Retrieved on July 26, 2013 at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet of Things
[6] SRI Consulting Business Intelligence, Retrieved on July 23, 2013 at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet of Things
[7] Spychips.com, ‘What is RFID?”, Denver University Law Review, 2002. Accessed online on July
26, 2013 at http://www.spychips.com/what-is-rfid.html
[8] Teach-ICT.COM, “What is RFID?”, Retrived online on July 28, 2013 from http://www.teach-
ict.com/technology_explained/rfid/rfid.html
[9] Martcon, “ Wireless Sensor Networks & Complementary Technologies”, Vertoda Blog, December
29, 2009. Accessed online on 22 July 2013 @
http://vertoda.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/wireless-sensor-networks- wind-farms/
[10] Retrived Online at www.dhs.gov/radio-frequency-identification-rfid-what-it.html on July 28,
2013.
[11] Marshall Brain and Tom Harris, “ How GPS Receivers Work”, Retrieved online on July 28, 2013
on http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/travel
[12] ESPOW.com, Considerations when choosing Surveillance cameras , 2013. Retrieved online
on April 10, 2013 at "http://www.espow.com/wholesale-security-surveillance- surveillance-
cameras-ip-cameras.html?osCsid=1jos40ssgf5h3o1of69dle4jn4.
[13] CISCO Systems Inc, USA, CISCO 2500 Series Video security Surveillance IP cameras, Cisco
White Paper, 2013. Retrieved online on April 11, 2013 at http://www.cisco.com/.
[14] Libelium, Video Camera Technical Guide, Document version: v4.1, April 2013, pp.34.
[15] I.F.Akyildiz, W.Su, Y.Sankarasubramaniam and E.Cayirci, A Survey on Wireless Networks,
IEEE Communications Magazine, 2002, pp.102-114.
[16] S. Petersen, P.Doyle, S.Vatland, C.S.Aasland, T.C.Andersen and D.Sjong, Requirements, Drivers
and Analysis of Wireless Sensor Network Solutions for Oil and Gas Industry, IEEE
Communications Magazine, 2007, pp.219.
[17] G.Sharma, S.Bala, A.K.Verma and T.Singh, Security in Wireless Sensor Networks using
Frequency Hopping, International Journal of Computer Applications (0975-8887), 2012, pp.1.
[18] C.Bisdikian, An Overview of the Bluetooth Wireless Technology, IEEE Communication
Magazine, 2012, vol.39.
[19] C.O.Iwendi and A.R Allen, Wireless Sensor Network Nodes: Security and Deployment in Niger-
Delta Oil and Gas Sector, International Journal of Network Security and Its Applications (IJNSA),
2011, Vol.3, No.1, pp.68.
[20] T.Fasasi, D. Maynard and H.Nasr, Sensors remotely monitor wells in Nigeria swamps, Oil and
Gas Journal, 2005, pp.2.

70
Authors
Engr. ThankGod Izuchukwu Ozue is a Doctoral Research Student in the Department
of Electronic and Computer Engineering Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka. He is
currently working as a Secuirty expert at Nyzpat Technologies Ltd. Port Harcourt,
Nigeria. He had his Masters Degree in Control Systems and Computer Engineering at
Nnamdi Azikiwe University in 2010 and B.Eng Electrical and Electronic Engineering at
Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka in 2006. He has authored several conference and
research journal publications. Email: thankjehovah@gmail.com
Dr. Francis A. Okoye is a lecturer and former Head, Department of Computer Science
and Engineering Enugu State University of Science and technology (ESUT), Nigeria. He
had his Ph.D in Computer Science in 2008 at Ebonyi Stat University Abakaliki, Nigeria.
He obtained his MSc. and BEng. in Computer Science and Engineering at Enugu State
University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Nigeria in 2001 and 1996 respectively.
He has several years of experience in both teaching and research. Email:
francisced@esut.edu.ng
Engr. Fidelis C. Obodoeze is a lecturer at Renaissance University Enugu, Department
of Computer Science. He is currently pursuing his PhD programme in the Department of
Electronic and Computer Engineering Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Nigeria. He
had his Masters Degree in Control Systems and Computer Engineering at Nnamdi
Azikiwe University in 2010 and B.Sc Degree in Computer Engineering at Obafemi
Awolowo University Ile-Ife in 2000. He had authored and co-authored several research
papers at reputable local and international journals. Email: fidelisobodoeze@gmail.com
Engr. Frank Ekene Ozioko is the Director of ICT office Enugu State University of
Science and Technology (ESUT) and Lecturer Department of Computer and
Information Science, ESUT, Nigeria. He had several years of experience in university
ICT administration and engineering as well as in teaching and research. Email:
ekene.ozioko@esut.edu.ng
Engr. Edward Osita Ofoegbu is currently a Doctoral Research Student in the
Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering Nnamdi Azikiwe University
Awka. He is currently lecturing at Department of Physics Electronics Oduduwa
Univesity Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. He had his Masters Degree in Control Systems
and Computer Engineering in 2012 and B.Eng Electronic and Computer Engineering in
2007 both at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Nigeria. He has worked on several
commercial ICT projects using latest cutting-edge and innovative technologies. Email:
edoxnt@yahoo.com
Calista Nnenna Mba is a Lecturer and former Acting Head, Department of Computer
Engineering, Caritas University Enugu, Nigeria. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D
programme in Computer Science at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Nigeria. She
had her MSc. Computer Science at University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) in 2009,
Nigeria and B.Eng in Computer Science and Engineering at Enugu State University of
Science and Technology (ESUT), Nigeria in 2004. Email: mbacally@yahoo.com

The Escalating Nigeria National Security Challenge: Smart Objects and Internet-Of-Things to the rescue

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (13)

Similar to The Escalating Nigeria National Security Challenge: Smart Objects and Internet-Of-Things to the rescue

Similar to The Escalating Nigeria National Security Challenge: Smart Objects and Internet-Of-Things to the rescue (20)

More from ijcnac

More from ijcnac (9)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

The Escalating Nigeria National Security Challenge: Smart Objects and Internet-Of-Things to the rescue