Federal lawmakers, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and telecoms operators have expressed different opinions on the role of technology in helping the country stem the rising tide in kidnapping and other related phone crimes.

Gathered in Lagos, yesterday, at a telecoms forum, the lawmakers expressed bitterness on the state of things and urged the NCC and telecom operators to find a lasting solution to the festering crises.

Leading the charge, lawmaker representing Delta State, Ben Etanabene, frowned at the increasing cases of kidnapping in the country, accusing the telcos of not doing enough in terms of information sharing, especially with security operatives.

Etanabene, who claimed to have been kidnapped in the past, queried why the telcos and the NCC can’t provide geo-location services that will ensure kidnappers are located and nabbed before wrecking havocs.

He stressed that deployment of technology can help to stem the rising tide. On his part the lawmaker representing Ile- Oluji in Ondo State, Ayodele Festus, asked for improved telephony service, lamenting rise in interference when calls are made.

Festus also queried rise in customer dissatisfaction, stressing that millions of subscribers are deeply frustrated. From his perspective, Moshood Olawale, representing Lagos, wanted telcos and NCC to drive down cost of services.

Without substantiating his claims with empirical data, Olawale claimed that Nigerian subscribers pay the most for services, “and still the service remains erratic.”

Responding, the Chairman of Association of Licenced Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) Gbenga Adebayo, punctured the claims of the lawmakers, saying that operators are doing a lot to stem phone related crimes in the country.

Adebayo said: “Kidnappers usually don’t use their own numbers to call families of their kidnapped victims for ransom, rather they use the phone of the kidnapped, while moving from one point to another.

“The worst is that the security agencies have not come to ask for geo-location of event and we refused giving it out. They have not even ask us.

“Remember also that there is Law of Lawful Interception, which give them authority in this regard.”

On his part, Corporate Service Executive, MTN Nigeria, Tobechukwu Okigbo, told the lawmakers that in terms of affordability, Nigeria is one of the cheapest country with very low tariff in Africa.

While lamenting the rise in fibre cuts, vandalism, theft of batteries, which contributes significantly to service down turn, the MTN Chief appealed to the lawmakers to always seek more information as regards the sector deeply.

On his part, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr Aminu Maida, stressed the importance of collaboration in stemming phone related crimes in the country.

According to him, the operators are always ready to provide information that will aid in stemming any criminal activities. He revealed that in 2024, through the NIN-SIM exercise, about 60 million telephone lines were disconnected, “MTN can tell us how much they have lost because of that process. Those were lines that cannot be traced. As it is today, there is no single telephone line on the network operating in Nigeria that is not linked to NIN. There is no operator that has not provided access to their systems for Legal Intercept and location prism.”