In January 2024, a family abduction in North-central Nigeria exposed the country’s weak security architecture, stirring up outrage on the internet, tears from relatives, and sympathies from the people. Criminal masterminds invaded the home of the Al-Kadiriyah family in the Bwari area of Abuja, the country’s capital city, kidnapping a father and his six daughters.

The abductors demanded a ₦60 million ransom after contacting a member of the family by phone. It was not the worst abduction case in Nigeria at the time; several families and locals have long been kidnapped by different criminal groups, especially in the northwestern region where abducted school children were used as negotiating pawns. However, this incident found a viral appeal because of how, when, and where it happened.

The terrorists had contacted the family by phone on multiple occasions, demanding and negotiating the ransom. At some point, they released the father so that he could facilitate the ransom payment. When the family could not raise the requested funds by the deadline, the terrorists killed Nabeehah, one of the abducted daughters. Nabeehah’s murder escalated the internet outrage, with Facebook and X users putting pressure on the government to find every means to free the captives.

To avoid the killing of other siblings captured by the terrorists, there was a call for donations on the internet to meet the next deadline for the ransom payment. Showing concerns over the spate of insecurity in the country, especially on the family abduction,  Ali Pantami, the former  Minister of Communications and Digital Economy in Nigeria, offered to help gather the ransom from an anonymous friend who had pledged to pay it.

His intervention was commended, but many Nigerians on X criticised the minister as he had enforced the National Identification Number (NIN) linkage with the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) on the failed promise that it would help security agents combat insecurity. Former President Muhammadu Buhari, the minister’s principal, had let the policy thrive long despite complaints over laborious queues at different registration points. The mobile networks of individuals who failed to link their NIN to their SIM cards were also blocked until they complied.

“The launch of the Revised National Digital Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration was quite timely and will support efforts to enhance security and develop the economy.

“The National Identification Number is the foundational digital ID for the country; both Nigerian citizens and legal residents are expected to obtain the NIN. It will provide access to government services and will give government useful insights that will enable us to utilise scarce resources more efficiently,’’ the former president said.

Buhari boasted that although past governments failed to promote digital identity as a security measure, his administration was “dedicated to ensuring that we derive the benefits of a secure and robust digital identity system.”

The SIM-NIN linkage initiative began in 2020, and according to the National Communications Commission (NCC), 125 million lines had been linked by April 2022. In August 2024, the NCC claimed there was no functional SIM card that was not verified with the NIN. 

“To date, over 153 million SIMs have been successfully linked to NINs, reflecting an impressive compliance rate of 96 per cent, a substantial increase from 69.7 per cent in January 2024,” NCC said.

The Failure of NIN-SIM Linkage

When faced with facts about the failure of the policy he initiated as a minister, Pantami was first thrown off balance by his critics on social media. He later defended his course as a minister, saying his administration did its best to implement the policy. He blamed the security agency for not taking advantage of the NIN-SIM linkage to tackle recurring cases of communications-related crimes, especially kidnap for ransom.

“Lack of utilising it is the main problem, not the policy. While in office, I know three instances where the policy was utilised, and it led to the success of their operations,” Pantami argued.

“On the lack of utilisation, I am more worried than anyone as my life was threatened by criminals for reintroducing it, including on the BBC Hausa and national dailies. I resisted and ensured its implementation. I am more frustrated than any person as I sacrificed my life and ignored all threats to my life,” he added.

When security agencies were given access to the data gathered during the NIN-SIM linkage, civil society organisations, such as the Paradigm Initiative, criticised it, stating that such access was unacceptable because it violates the provisions of various human rights laws. The non-governmental organisations said giving law enforcement agencies excessive discretion and failing to provide checks and balances to prevent governmental excesses were unacceptable. They sent a Freedom of Information Request (FOI) to the communications ministry, but it was ignored.

“The NIN-SIM policy has been working. However, the relevant institutions fighting criminality are to be requested to ensure they utilise it effectively when the crime is committed,” Pantami insisted.

Rising Insecurity

The spate of violent attacks has continued to cause tears and havoc across war-torn zones, spreading seamlessly to urban and rural areas of the country. In 2022, for instance, 4,545 people were killed by non-state actors, while 4,611 others were kidnapped, according to the Council on Foreign Relations and National Security Tracker. Analysts further revealed that an average of 12 people were killed and 13 people kidnapped daily in violent attacks reported in the media from January to December 2022.

Interestingly, SBM Intelligence, an African security intel gathering firm, revealed that between July 2022 and June 2023, $387,179 (₦302 million) was paid as ransom to kidnappers in the country. The report stressed that within the same time frame, 3,620 people were abducted in 582 kidnap-related incidents in Nigeria. 

“The northwest and north-central regions exhibit higher in-kind ransom demands,” according to the report. “This aligns with Nigeria’s poverty and its correlation with areas where food is commonly demanded. Additionally, these regions have seen a surge in motorcycle demands due to economic opportunities and possibly because of their potential use in terror activities.” 

In 2024, cases of kidnap for ransom rose rapidly, with Nigerians paying over ₦2 trillion as ransom, according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).  In its Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey report, the NBS revealed that Nigerian households experienced an estimated 51.89 million crime incidents within the period.

The report showed that crime disproportionately affected rural areas, with ₦26.53 million incidents occurring in rural households compared to 25.36 million in urban areas. Kidnapping recorded the highest number of cases, and 65 per cent of those kidnapped were forced to pay ransom, with an average payment of ₦2.67 million, totalling ₦2.23 trillion nationwide.

Danjuma Muhammad, an intelligence-sector security expert, told HumAngle that Pantami might be right to blame security agents for failing to use available data gathered from the NIN-SIM linkage to track and hunt down terrorists. He stressed that interoperability measures would have helped the government use available digital identity data to track criminal masterminds.

“The communications ministry shared the data with security agencies for a reason. There is established data on Nigerians being forced to link their NIN with their SIM. So, it is left for authorities to take actions to reduce the spate of crimes and criminalities in our society,” he said.

The security expert argued that if Nigerian police had worked with telecommunications companies to monitor the conversations of the Al-Kadiriyah family abductors, the situation would not have escalated to the point of killing one of the kidnapped girls.

Martin Nwoga, an information technology expert, corroborated him, saying the federal government should let telecommunication companies use the Lawful Interception Management System, a digital monitoring system intercepting calls, to track criminals.

Nwoga noted that the digital tool can monitor public communication services, such as telephone calls, and mobile data and internet-based services, such as e-mail, voice-over-IP, instant messaging, and so on.

“If a semi-state agency could be set up to legally monitor devices and communications of suspected criminals, this would go a long way in solving crime,” he said.

This report is produced as part of the DPI Africa Journalism Fellowship Programme, a collaboration between the Media Foundation for West Africa and Co-develop.