Bosun Tijani, minister of communications, innovation and digital economy, said the bandits used “a special technique” to make calls and evade surveillance.The minister spoke to Seun Okinbaloye on the TV channel’s Politics Today program on Friday evening.
Tijani said monitoring gangsters’ phones for intelligence purposes was “more technical” than Nigerians imagined.
The minister said criminals bounced calls on multiple towers to prevent security personnel from tracking their communications.
“The reason the president is actually pushing us to invest in towers in these areas is We realized they had a special technology [the bandits] Used to make phone calls“Tijani said.
“They didn’t use a regular tower; they bounced calls off multiple towers. That’s why they like to live in areas like this [are] not connected“.
Tijani said the federal government was working to upgrade the country’s space satellites to improve security surveillance.
“Because if our towers don’t work, our satellites do,” he said.
The minister said the situation underscored the need for “significant investment” in telecommunications infrastructure.
“If you go to China, they have over 4 million 5G towers. The total number of towers we have in Nigeria is only about 40,000,” Tijani said.
In recent weeks, insecurity has increased across the country, especially in the north.
Schoolchildren in Niger and Kebbi states were kidnapped by bandits, and churches in Kogi and Kwara states were attacked.
The spate of school kidnappings and community killings prompted the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) to decide to hold nationwide protests on December 17.
