WorldStage– Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani has revealed that bandits and terrorists operating in Nigeria exploit sophisticated communication technology that enables their calls to bounce across multiple cell towers, making them difficult to trace.
Speaking during a politics broadcast programme on Friday in Abuja, Tijani said the criminals deliberately position themselves in areas with little or no telecommunications coverage to evade surveillance and detection by security agencies.
“There was a special kind of technology they were using to make calls. They weren’t using normal towers. They bounced calls off multiple towers,” the minister said.
According to him, the tactic enables signals to disappear once the criminals move locations, which is why many attacks are launched from largely unserved or poorly connected areas.
Tijani said the findings informed President Bola Tinubu’s directive to significantly expand telecom infrastructure nationwide, including the deployment of thousands of new communication towers in rural and underserved communities.
He also disclosed that Nigeria’s communication satellites are being upgraded to serve as backup where ground-based towers fail.
“If our towers are not working, our satellites will work. Nigeria is the only country in West Africa with communication satellites, and we are bringing in new ones to upgrade their capabilities,” he added.
Addressing concerns about unregistered SIM cards being used in kidnappings, the minister described the issue as more complex than commonly assumed, noting that telecom operators have already carried out a major cleanup exercise to eliminate fraudulent lines.
Tijani said the combined efforts are aimed at closing security loopholes, improving digital inclusion, and strengthening national security amid persistent banditry challenges, particularly in northern Nigeria.
