In the face of the frustrations Nigerians are feeling in the inability of security agencies to track kidnappers and brought to book, the National Communication Commission, NCC, has absolved itself from the development.
This self absorption is coming even when the kidnappers are captured on videos, recorded on other devices. Most of the kidnappers have also used mobile cell lines to make contacts with their victims’ families.
Expressing concern over the development, the Senate President of the Nigerian Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Henry Okunomo described the scourge as worrisome.
He expressed deep worry that in this age of tech advancement and the height Nigeria has attained in technological development the situation look hopeless.
Okunomo wondered how kidnappers could make contact with a victim’s families without being rounded up by security agents the next minute.
The NANS President expressed this feeling while appearing on a television programme recently to discuss the issue of his abducted colleagues.
Speaking on the incessant rate of kidnapping across the country, Okunomo expressed dissatisfaction. He therefore, queried the way security agencies are handling the matter.
He said: “I am not satisfied with the way security agencies are going about the matter. The Government cannot tell me there is no other way this kidnapping thing can be nipped in the bud. After all, there are several measures already in place. Why are they not working?”
Okunomo referred to the measures to include SIM card registration which the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC carried out in 2011. The Nigerian Identity Number, NIN enrolment, which the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC began in 2015. The NIN-SIM Registration exercise which the Federal government carried out in 2020, involving the NCC, NIMC and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. He also mentioned the NigComSat-1R Communications satellite which the country shot into the orbit since 2012.
Okunomo noted that these measures by the Government, were mainly to improve National Security. And to strengthening the capacity of Law Enforcement Agencies to tackle criminal use of mobile phones by checkmating activities of criminals.
“They were also to help simplify verification process and thus enable more secure transactions and interactions using mobile devices. And to boost confidence and participation in the digital economy. Also to improve governance and service delivery by providing accurate data for policymaking. Facilitating and secure access to E-government services online, as well as aiding in the implementation of social programs
Okunomo, however, wondered that despite all these measures, bandits, and kidnappers operate recklessly.
“Victims’ accounts at different times suggest that either the measures are not effective or someone in a position of taking action is complicit in the crimes,” he said.
Vanguard reports that in Zamfara State, a kidnap victim, Mallam Yushau Jangeme, was reported to have said security agents in his village, Jangeme, did nothing to trace the telephone calls of the bandits who kidnapped him.
According to the publication, Jangeme said, at the time bandits kidnapped seven people in his village and he was contacted. They were ordered to bring ransom before they could be freed.
According to him, when he got to the forest to give kidnappers N1.4m out of N3m demanded, they detained him. Saying he must bring the remaining N1.6m. All these happened irrespective of him having made available the phone numbers of his kidnappers to security agents, Vanguard reports.
Also a public affairs commentator, Chike Ogbu, also expressed dissatisfaction with the way security agents handled abduction cases. He cited the case of the abducted medical students in Benue State.
Ogbu pointed out that he could not understand the sense of SIM registration. Or its link with NIN, when people could make ransom calls and not getting arrested. He, therefore, expressed dissatisfaction with the development. And wondered what happened to all the data that were supposed to accrue from the registrations.
“We have had all manner of SIM activity registrations in this country. We have had Identity registrations and we have a communications satellite. Which one of them is not functioning. Or which agency of government is not releasing sensitive information necessary for picking these renegades? What is actually the problem, or are our security agents complicit?” Ogbu queried.
“One of the reasons the NCC took a hard stance on the deadline for NIN-SIM linkage was to fulfil its objective. To clean the country’s SIM ownership database. And also to ensure that criminals could not take advantage of having multiple unlinked SIMs. Yet, the situation appeared not to have abated.
Notwithstanding the knocks, NCC has insisted that the fault is not from its end. This was the stance of a top official at the Commission who craved anonymity told Saturday Vanguard.
“Yes, we were adamant on the deadline of the NIN-SIM linkage because of several dangerous security trends we discovered.
“Our resolve hinged on the need to close in on the chaos of untoward ownership of multiple SIM cards with unverified NIN details. We had instances where a single individual had over 10,000 lines linked to his NIN. In some cases, we have seen a single person with 1,000 lines, some 3,000 plus lines. What were they doing with these lines?
“From our interim findings, the owners of these lines did not purchase them for decent purposes. Or to undertake legitimate activities. We gave them enough time to make the decision of which of their lines they wanted to keep. They did not. All lines in this category with unverified NINs were barred.
“On the issue of kidnappers making calls to victims’ families without being traced, I don’t think that power is residual in our hands. What we know is that whatever support the security agents have sought from us, as far as the national security question is concerned, we have always given to the best of our ability. Our duty is not to track and arrest people who make calls rightly or wrongly, the source added.
Also, a reliable satellite Engineer at the Nigerian Communications Satellite Company, NIGCOMSAT LTD, who didn’t want his name mentioned, told Saturday Vanguard that the onus of taking action on whatever the communications satellite reveals, in terms of crimes, is squarely at the doorsteps of the security agencies.
He added that, the door of the company has always been open to them for valuable information that aid their operations.
“One of the misconceptions about our satellite is people believing that it will snap photos. Or record videos of crime scenes and send them to security agents, but that is not how it works.
“Although NigComSat -1R is a communications satellite, it is not equipped with cameras. It gathers data and digital footprints which on demand, we usually make available to security agencies that can also read and interpret them effectively. So people should not think that because crimes are happening unabated, the satellite is not working or performing its duties” he added.
source: Vanguard
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