Kidnapping: Deploying Telecom Intelligence, Best Solution

…FG must stop treating telecom data as mere background info
…Security must use telecom resources intelligently – Samson Ukpolo
…We have always provided critical details to security – NCC, telcos

After over two weeks, the 46 people, consisting of 39 students, some as young as two years old, and 7 teachers abducted in Oyo primary school by dare-devil kidnappers are still in their custody.

This is as insecurity continues to threaten lives, businesses, schools, highways, farms, and communities across Nigeria.

The gory torture pictures and videos coming from the bandits’ camp leaves a sore taste in the mouth of every discernible person.

Yet, it appears the bandits are overrunning the entire country when tech experts are saying it takes just deliberate application of technology solutions to nip the menace in the bud.

Globally, there is a growing consensus among technology leaders that future security challenges will increasingly require digital solutions.

Since 2021, former Communications Minister Isa Ali Pantami has continually advocated the use of technology solutions to check some of the crimes ravaging the country.

Pantami’s argument is that insecurity, unemployment and other national challenges can be addressed through digital technology, artificial intelligence, sound policy and infrastructure.

At the launch of a compendium documenting his achievements as former Director-General of NITDA and Minister of Communications and Digital Economy in Gombe State, recently, pantami also resumed the call, stating that “there is a solution to every challenge we have in Nigeria in technology.”

Echoing that position, another top telecommunication expert Mr Samson Ukpolo, has expressed surprise that a country like Nigeria is gradually succumbing to insurgence when it is described as one of the fastest growing telecom economies in the world.

He called on the Federal Government, security agencies, and telecom operators to strengthen their collaboration and use communication technology more effectively in tracking bandits, kidnappers, terrorists, and other criminal networks operating across the country.

But top officials of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCc and telecom companies who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Hi-Tech that the problem is not about collaboration but about the will-power to utilise the benefits of collaboration.

They disclosed that whatever information security agencies and government had needed from them to nip insurgence in the bud, they have always provided.

But, Ukpolo said Nigeria’s security challenge has reached a point where conventional policing alone is no longer enough. According to him, the activities of bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers, terrorists, and criminal informants show that many of these groups rely heavily on mobile communication to plan attacks, demand ransom, coordinate movements, receive intelligence, and maintain contact with collaborators.

He stated that if criminals are using communication tools to commit crimes, then the government and security agencies must also be more deliberate, lawful, and strategic in using telecom infrastructure to expose, track, disrupt, and prosecute them.

He said: “Nigeria cannot continue to fight a modern security problem with outdated tools.

“Bandits communicate, kidnappers communicate, ransom negotiators communicate, informants communicate, Logistics suppliers communicate, and the question is not whether criminals are using phones and communication networks. The real question is whether the government is using the available telecom resources effectively enough to identify them, track them, and stop them before they cause further harm.”

Across the country, the impact of insecurity has become devastating. In many rural communities, farmers are unable to go to their farms because of fear of attacks. In some areas, villagers pay illegal levies to criminal groups before they can harvest their crops or remain in their ancestral homes. On major highways, kidnapping has become a nightmare for travellers. In some schools, parents are afraid of sending their children to boarding facilities because of repeated cases of mass abduction. In urban areas, armed robbery, cult violence, cyber-enabled fraud, and organised criminality continue to put pressure on law enforcement agencies.

Ukpolo said this reality demands a stronger intelligence-driven approach.

According to him, the government must begin to treat telecom infrastructure as a national security asset, not merely as a commercial service for calls, data, and messaging. He explained that telecom towers, SIM registration databases, call records, device identities, mobile money trails, emergency call systems, and network-location information can all become important tools in the fight against insecurity when used within the limits of the law.

He said: “Every serious kidnapping case begins with a lead. Sometimes that lead is the phone number used to call the victim’s family. Sometimes it is the device used to demand ransom. Sometimes it is the pattern of calls between the kidnappers and their informants. Sometimes it is the movement of a phone across different cell towers. If properly analysed, those communication footprints can help security agencies understand the network behind the crime.”

Ukpolo explained that while Nigeria already has SIM registration and NIN-SIM linkage policies, the problem is not only registration but the speed, accuracy, and coordination with which security agencies can make use of telecom data during emergencies.

He noted that in many cases, kidnappers call families repeatedly to demand ransom, give instructions, issue threats, and confirm payment arrangements. According to him, each of those calls creates a communication record that can help investigators.

“A ransom call is not just a phone call; it is an intelligence opportunity,” he said. “The number used, the device used, the location area, the call pattern, the people contacted before and after the call, and the SIM history can all provide useful information. But the information must be accessed lawfully, quickly, and professionally.”

He called for the creation of a National Telecom-Security Intelligence Fusion Centre, where authorised representatives of the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services, military intelligence, Nigerian Communications Commission, and mobile network operators can work together in real time on verified cases of kidnapping, terrorism, banditry, armed robbery, and other violent crimes.