Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami, has explained that although Kidnappers and terrorists still negotiate for ransom using phone calls, significant gains have been recorded since the linking of sim cards with the National Indentation Number, NIN began.
The Minister who made the explanation in Umuahia, Abia State, during the World National Identify Day celebration, said that since the exercise commenced, there had been a notable drop in the number of calls by fraudsters to unsuspecting phone users.
He said that people should not expect innovation to wipe out evil overnight, arguing that it is a gradual process.
His words:”The issue of Kidnappers’ calls has actually reduced with respect to ransom by phones. The sanitation of the existing system cannot be done overnight. It’s an ongoing process.
” Those 419 calls we normally get most of the time have actually reduced because most of the numbers now are attached to the NIN.
” It needs a little bit more time before the entire system will be completely sanitised. But a tremendous impact has been made so far.
” At least for the first time, most people are scared of doing certain things with their phone numbers – making malicious calls.”