The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Fatai Owoseni says if the telephone service providers would be honest enough to carry out the NCC directive by ensuring nobody in this country owns an unregistered GSM telephone line, cracking and breaking through crime, especially organized crimes would not be a problem.

Nigeria has in recent times been called everything from a country in “descent into the dark,” to a “country beset with insecurity across the land,” to a “failed state.”

And worst! Only recently, in its publication of the Failed State Index of 2014, the Fund for Peace, the well-respected Washington-based think-tank one of whose founder is Susan Rice, U.S. President Obama’s former Ambassador to the United Nations, squarely placed Nigeria as among the 15 most vulnerable nations on the globe.

The kidnapping of elder statesman and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Olu Falae, by alleged Fulani herdsmen, recently, is yet another indication of the rising wave of insecurity in the country. Although he has now been released, his abduction came on the heels of several other kidnap incidents in different parts of the country.

Litany of Kidnappings

Among the persons kidnapped recently, according to statistics obtained by our Correspondent from the Research and Statistics Department of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) includes, renowned Vanguard columnist, Donu Kogbara, Toyin Nwosu, wife of Steve Nwosu, the Deputy Managing Director of The Sun newspapers, and former acting Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Prof. Emmanuel Ogunwolu.

Others include the brother of ex- Department of State Services (DSS) Director-General, Asuquo Ekpenyong Ekpe; Ejira Lale, son of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Ndokwa Lale and Mrs. Esther Uzoma, wife of a university don and social critic, Prof. Nath Protus Uzoma. This list is by no means exhaustive. Just as kidnapping is rising after an initial lull, armed robberies are also on the increase, especially during traffic grid­locks in the Lagos metropolis.

Scary Statistics

For Nigeria today, armed robbery and extortionist kidnapping are easily the most serious and arguably number one domestic security problems. It is a national problem that is prevalent all across the country. According to a report sighted at the office of the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Nigeria has recorded a total of 512 kidnappings from May 2015 to September 2015, with 30 of such persons involved losing their lives in the process.

The eastern states top the list of kidnap incidents. Indeed, it is now a common fact that in virtually all the eastern states, gruesome incidents of mass armed robbery and kidnapping have become common occurrence. Where the robbers are not maiming and looting, kidnappers are targeting local moneybags and unfortunate expatriates like the Chinese nationals executing building contracts for indigenous businessmen.

According to the said report, Abia State tops all states with a total of 110 kidnap incidents, and 353 criminal cases and three deaths within that period. This is followed by Imo (58 recorded kidnaps, 109 arrests, 41 prosecutions, and 1 death), Delta (44 kidnappings, 43 released, 27 arrests, 31 prosecutions, 1 killed), Akwa Ibom (40 kidnappings, 40 released, 18 arrests, 11 prosecutions), and Lagos, 23 kidnappings, 15 freed, five killed and 10 suspects arrested.

The Rebuff

The Commissioner of Police (CP) Lagos State Police Command, Fatai Owoseni, in chat with our Correspondent, countered the figure of kidnapped cases in Lagos, according to him, “the situation is blown out of proportion by some mischief-makers who do not want to see anything good in the Police. We have been able to clear some areas in the State of criminals like kidnappers, armed robbers and cultists. I may not have the whole statistics on my finger-tips now, but I can tell you here that one or two organized crimes have successfully been cracked by the Police command.”

Cracking the Code with the Phone

Owoseni, added that the recent Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb, bloody bank armed robbery, was successfully cracked by men of the command’s anti-robbery squad, after the hoodlums were tracked through their mobile phone numbers and traced to their different hideouts in and outside Lagos State. He also added that, the arrest of the alleged kidnappers of Olu Falae, by the Police, was made possible through the use of modern technology, including the tracking of the mobile phone of one of the elder statesman’s domestic staff. “Where we usually have issue, is where victims of kidnapping or relative, decided to keep sealed lips, after being warned by the hoodlums. They would not tell you the truth, they would even mount pressure on you to forget about the case, for fear of reprisal attack by the criminals.”

The Lagos Police boss added further that, the Lekki bank armed robbery suspects were arrested using the same technology. “The issue is that if the network providers would be honest enough to carry out the NCC directive by ensuring nobody in this country owns an unregistered GSM telephone lines, cracking and breaking through crime, especially organized crimes would not be a problem. In all, we have been able to make an impressive breakthrough in seven kidnap cases in Lagos State, since I took over as the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command.”

He stressed that organized crime threatens peace and human security, violates human rights and undermines economic, social, cultural, political and civil development of societies around the world including Nigeria.

Owoseni, added that, “the vast sums of money involved can compromise legitimate economies and directly impact public processes. It yields high profits for its culprits and results in high risks for individuals who fall victim to it. Every year, countless individuals lose their lives at the hand of criminals involved in organized crime, succumbing to drug-related health problems or injuries inflicted by firearms, or losing their lives as a result of the unscrupulous methods and motives of human traffickers and smugglers of migrants.”

NCC Against MTN, Others

Nigeria’s SIM card registration policy has dealt a heavy blow to Africa’s largest mobile network, MTN, which in Nigeria trades as MTN Nigeria. In a notice sent out to its shareholders , MTN confirmed that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) fined it $5.2 billion for failing to deactivate 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards before the end of the August and September deadlines, as set by the NCC.

Police sources at the Zone “2” Police Command, Onikan, Lagos and Special Fraud Unit (SFU) in Ikoyi, who spoke to our Correspondent, stated that MTN , Glo and Visafone, have been security operatives’ major blockage in crime detection and prevention in Nigeria. “Armed robbery or kidnap case would be reported to the Police, and the criminals are using a telephone line from MTN of Glo to communicate with the family of the victim, negotiating ransoms in the case of kidnapping, you now approach the network provider to assist you, but they would either mount unnecessary hurdles, such that before you would meet up, the criminals may have all covered their tracks and go free.”

The source reminded our Correspondent of the celebrated kidnap case of the Orekoyas in Lagos, and added that, tracking down the suspect somewhere in Egbeda area of Lagos and subsequent arrest would not have been possible if, the suspect was using unregistered line or an MTN telephone line. “She was using phone number of another network provider (name withheld), and the moment Police approached the network for assistance, they immediately obliged and within 48 hours, the suspect was picked up.”

The source at SFU, also listed MTN as major clog on the wheel of several high-level bank fraud cases that were not properly attended to. “I remember when we were investigating the Oil subsidy scammers, network providers in this country refused to cooperate with the Police to investigate the case. At the end of the day, the suspects are making phone calls through these networks, subverting evidences, but by the time Police would contact the network provider for call details, they would tell you there was no number like that in their system.”

According to a very impeccable source, insiders within some of these telephone service providers are also assisting criminals with security risk calls. “I want to see a situation in which networks providers ensure their lines are registered and whenever security agencies approach them for assistance to solve a crime puzzle, they should speedily comply,” said Police source at SFU.

The Lekki robbers were using MTN telephone line to communicate, Ikorodu bank robbers were also on MTN network, FESTAC gang used Airtel, Orekoya kids kidnappers had MTN line, the Oil subsidy scammers, almost every one of them uses MTN. 12 out the recent alleged Boko Haram members arrested in Lagos recently are on MTN network, and the shocking part of is that, these criminal lines are not registered. The Ekiti governorship election tribunal Judges bribery scandal which former governor Kayode Fayemi, had relied on to reclaim his mandate, also had link with MTN lines.

Investigation revealed that MTN’s average revenue per user (ARPU) each month in Nigeria has steadily declined to around $4.99 in the three months to Sept. 30, since NCC sledgehammer hit the telecommunications company. NCC is effectively fining MTN $1,000 for each of the disconnected lines. MTN said it had reconnected 3.4 million of the customers with registered SIM cards by the end of September.

In a bid to have more subscribers on their network, many telecommunications companies have sold some unregistered SIM cards without obtaining any subscriber information since GSM network services were launched in the country in 2001. This makes it difficult for Nigerian security authorities to investigate and resolve crimes that have been committed by users of unregistered SIM cards.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has already been mandated to move into MTN and take a closer look at their financial dealings. The anti-graft body is also expected to establish among other things, whether or not, the unregistered lines were left out in error or otherwise.