Why Terrorists, Bandits Still Demand Ransom Via Phone Despite NIN, SIM Card Link – Pantami

Isa Pantami, the minister of communications and the digital economy, has explained why the federal government is unable to track phones used by terrorists, robbers, and kidnappers who contact the relatives of their victims to negotiate ransom payments.

The minister discussed the inability to apprehend criminal elements despite the initiative that required all citizens to have their National Identification Numbers (NIN) linked with their phone SIM cards at the 19th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) Administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023) held in Abuja yesterday.

READ ALSO: Northerners Plan To Replace Tinubu With Shettima – Ex APC Director

In response to the pressing situation, Pantami said that cybercrime was at play.

According to him, “Cybercrime is under the office of the national security advisor and other security institutions.

“Our role in cyber security is to ensure we minimize the possibility of a criminal deploying technology to commit a crime. So our work is proactive. At the same time, if the crime is committed and our intervention is required officially, then we will intervene.

“So, here, we need to reintroduce the national NIN and civil registrations when it comes to minimizing the probability of criminals committing a crime. Two, we enforce the NIN registration. NIN registration is by our law in Nigeria; NIN is mandatory for all citizens.”

Speaking further about his ministry’s accomplishments in recent years, the Minister stated that at least 66 attempts by hackers from Europe to hack the Federal Executive Council (FECvirtual )’s meetings were thwarted.

Pantami said all cases have been reported to the relevant authorities for documentation and follow-up steps.

The Minister stated that since the National Policy on Virtual Engagements for Federal Public Institutions in October 2020 to formalize online government sessions, including those of the FEC and the Council of State, no less than 108 virtual federal cabinet meetings have been held.

He asserted that Nigeria would have spent over N47 billion on holding physical meetings had the virtual meetings been implemented, and that over the previous three years, the nation’s digital economy had generated at least 2.2 million employment.

Pantami attributed the difficulties in communications on a lack of infrastructure and fiber optic cable vandalism. According to him, there were over 13,000 instances of fiber optic cable vandalism in one particular year, which occurred in various cities all across the nation.

The minister estimated that 46.2 percent of people will have access to broadband by November 2022, and that the ICT sector would generate N408 billion in quarterly revenue.