The Federal Government has launched upgrades to the country’s communications satellites and fibre optic infrastructure as part of a new strategy to track fraudulent phone calls and disrupt criminal communications networks.
Dr. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, announced the initiative during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja. He highlighted the escalating reliance on mobile networks by kidnappers, bandits, and fraud syndicates, which has heightened the urgency for advanced telecom surveillance.
“Tracking criminal calls is far more technical than many Nigerians assume,” Tijani stated. He noted that despite widespread National Identification Number (NIN) and SIM card linkage efforts, criminal groups continue to evade detection using sophisticated technologies.
Investigations by security agencies revealed that these criminals route calls across multiple cell towers, complicating efforts to pinpoint their origins. Such tactics prove especially effective in underserved and unconnected rural areas with limited network coverage.
To counter this, the government is expanding national fibre optic coverage and upgrading two key communications satellites. “This is why we are upgrading our two satellites—so that if our towers are not working, our satellites will work,” Tijani explained. He positioned the satellite enhancements as a cornerstone of a broader connectivity framework designed to bolster security operations nationwide.
While the satellite upgrades will require time to fully implement, Tijani assured that fibre expansion and improvements to ground tower coverage are already underway, promising quicker gains in surveillance capabilities.
The move comes amid ongoing challenges in Nigeria’s digital security landscape, where telecom firms recently conducted a nationwide SIM cleanup exercise that still failed to fully dismantle criminal networks.
