Video: Bandits block trackers with call-hopping tech — Minister
Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani
Abdullateef Fowewe
Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, has exposed how bandits and terrorists are using advanced “call-hopping” technology to dodge security tracking, bouncing calls across multiple cell towers for near-impossible tracing.
Video link: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Jpu5hukzh/
In an interview on Channels Television, Tijani detailed the criminals’ tactics.
“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,” he said.
He added that bandits deliberately operate from areas with little or no telecom coverage, allowing signals to vanish as they relocate – a key reason attacks often stem from unserved rural zones.
Tijani linked the intelligence to President Bola Tinubu’s push to deploy thousands of new communication towers nationwide, targeting underserved communities to shrink bandits’ safe havens.
Further bolstering defenses, Nigeria is upgrading its communication satellites as a backup where ground towers falter.
“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,” Tijani stated.
On unregistered SIM cards fueling kidnappings, the minister dismissed simplistic fixes, noting telecom operators’ recent cleanup of fraudulent lines.
He emphasised that these steps – from infrastructure expansion to satellite enhancements – aim to seal security gaps, boost digital access, and combat banditry ravaging northern Nigeria.
