Kidnapping: We provide relevant information to security agents – Telecom operators

Telecom operators in the country have said the security agents rather than the operators should be asked why kidnappers and bandits using registered SIM cards to commit crimes have not been apprehended. Speaking at a colloquium on a legislative agenda: the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, organised by House of Representatives Committee on Communications and the […]

Telecom operators in the country have said the security agents rather than the operators should be asked why kidnappers and bandits using registered SIM cards to commit crimes have not been apprehended.

Speaking at a colloquium on a legislative agenda: the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, organised by House of Representatives Committee on Communications and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Lagos yesterday, the chairman of Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), engr Gbenga Adebayo, said the telcos have always been providing needed and necessary information to security agents when they ask.

“The security agents should be asked what they do with the information will provide for them whenever they ask. We provide geo-location information and other necessary information when they demand it”, Adebayo said.

Adebayo was responding to a question from a members of the Committee on Communications who accused the operators and NCC of not doing enough on using SiM/NIN registration to stop kidnapping.

The ALTON said a lot of things happen behind closed doors on SIM/NIN registration as regards using it to solve kidnapping that he would not want to disclose in public.

Earlier, the House of Representatives Speaker, Dr Tajudeen Abbas said the lawmakers would use contribution from stakeholders to amend the NCA 2003.

Abbas who was represented by Deputy Chief Whip, Dr Ibrahim Ayokunle Isiaka said the national assembly would strengthen the NCA Act to boost the country’s digital economy.

In his welcome address , the chairman House Committee on Communications, Peter Akpatason, said they moved to amend the NCA Act because it has been found be outdated.