Legal luminaries advocate law guiding use of drone technology in warfare
Legal luminaries who gathered in Salem University on Wednesday, 23 September, 2026 have advocated a legal framework for the use of drone technology in warfare.
The occasion was the first Ph.D Dissertation defence, by Dr. Sunday Jossy Adejemiluwa, hosted by College of Law, of the university.
The title of the Dissertation was “Human Rights Protection in Armed Conflicts: An Assessment of Contemporary Legal Issues in Modern warfare”
Professors of Law, Professor Joshua Igono, Professor Daniel Atidoga and the External Examiner, Prof. Enemaku Obaje of Federal University Lokoja agreed with Dr. Adejemiluwa that there was need for an international law to guide the use of drones and robotics in warfare.
According to Dr Jossy, who is also a lecturer in the university, findings have proven that drone technology in warfare is trending across the globe, without existing legal framework for its usage.
“There are no laws regulating the use of drone technology internationally, he stressed, adding, “so, it was part of my recommendation that there is need at international level for laws to be made, so as to avoid human rights abuses that come with the use of modern warfare like drone, Robotics, among others”
He said, “modern warfare now requires the use of unmanned drone technology, but in Nigeria as in other parts of the world, the existing legal framework for warfare never made provision for the use of such technology.”
“So, this research has found that existing gap and drawing the attention of the international community, including Nigeria to initiate the legal framework immediately”
Prof. Joshua Igono, the pioneer Dean College of Law, Salem University Lokoja, who served as the supervisor of the Thesis said, “The student has taken the pain, went through the rigorous processes to research on this new area of modern warfare, saying, “the study has opened our eyes to see the gap and the need to move and establish the legal framework. This is the crux of this academic research work”
The Internal examiner, Prof. Daniel F Atidoga and the external examiner Prof. Enemaku Obaje also thumped up the outcome of the research work, pointing out that, “the traditional warfare system known across the world is the use of military personnel, heavy military equipment like guns, bomb, missiles, tank etc, and all the legal framework are there.”
The drone technology, the agreed was relatively new in warfare; adding “this study has found out there is no law for the use of drone technology, and that the gap must be closed.”
They argued that in the absence of legal framework, abuse of human rights was inevitable .
The event was a formal conferment of Ph.D Public Law on the student Mr Sunday Jossy Adejemiluwa.
