₦airaland Forum

The Federal Government, on Tuesday raised the alarm over how terrorists are devising different means including use of Point of Sale (PoS) to escape when carrying out their nefarious activities.

It also disclosed that Nigerian security agencies are working with major social media companies to identify and take down accounts used by terrorists and criminal groups to promote their activities and raise funds.

The Director-General of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Adamu Laka, a Major-General, disclosed this to journalists at the Centre’s headquarters in Abuja during 2025 end-of-the-year press briefing.

The senior military officer lamented that ransom payments remained a major source of terror financing, with Point of Sale (PoS) operators increasingly exploited to move the funds.

He explained that in many cases, ransom payments were transferred to accounts belonging to PoS operators, who then released the cash to kidnappers, making tracking of such money more difficult

“You see a transfer made by terrorists, and when you investigate the account, it belongs to a PoS operator. The kidnappers give out the PoS operator’s number, the money is transferred, and they go to collect it,” he said.

According to him, security agencies had intensified efforts to track ransom payments, arrest those involved and disrupt terror financing networks, stressing that operational details could not be made public for security reasons.

He revealed that several arrests and prosecutions had been made in connection with ransom payments and terrorism financing.

Laka noted that asset recoveries and seizures formed part of Nigeria’s compliance with international anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards.

He listed TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and X as some of the platforms being used by terrorists to publicise operations, display looted items and communicate with supporters.

According to him, security agencies have held several engagements with social media companies to address posts and accounts that pose threats to national security.

“These platforms are businesses and are interested in growing their user base, but we engage them and explain the implications of certain posts on national security, and we take them down,” Laka said.

He noted that terrorist tactics continue to evolve, including the use of aliases and unverified accounts, adding that security agencies constantly adapt to counter such developments.

southsouthking:
And they can't fish out the POS operators?

southsouthking:
And they can't fish out the POS operators?

Maxymilliano:
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has explained why he delegated some members of the party to respond to questions posed to him.
According to the former Lagos Governor, he adopted the delegation method “to show team-ship”.

Tinubu spoke at the Chatham House lecture titled: ‘Nigeria’s 2023 elections: In conversation with Bola Ahmed Tinubu’, monitored by The Nation.

At the lecture, Tinubu after his opening remarks, assigned Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai to speak on how his (Tinubu-led) government would address insecurity and asked the Director of Strategic Communication of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Dele Aleke, to respond to the question on oil theft.

https://thenationonlineng.net/why-i-delegated-el-rufai-ayade-others-to-answer-questions-at-chatham-house-tinubu/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1670262252

Mexyz:
Oga General, what exactly are you saying Sir?

No financial transactions that goes through our channels in Nigeria that can't be monitored or traced by all relevant regulators.
So you don't need to give this excuse, POS operators are registered entities that can be trace if you guys want to do so.

GiftofGod77:
They should fish out and arrest the POS operators. Much of action not talk.

Emeskhalifa:
You didn't read all the message, did you? Or you read all but does not have idea how the pos business works

They investigate (track the funds) only to see that the last place the funds stopped was the POS agent, he was the last man the funds got to and they didn't transfer the money from there but demanded for cash from the pos which automatically translates to dead case.

I know you will say, arreste the POS agent, he's part of them, but the truth is, majority of POS agents are ignorant, because it is the last chain of financial services, it is filled with illiterates who do not know beyond how to operate POS, No training, no educating them on anything like money laundering, terrorism money or any security safety. The moment you show interest that you want to start POS business the fintechs and banks that issue pos out are just eager to hand you their device so you can immediately start and let them start earning commission from you. No training, no orientation, nothing. And owing to the large number of pos agents scattered in the country, if a transaction comes your way and you refuse to do it, 10 to 20 agents around your vicinity will do it.

There are so many cases that pos agents out of ignorance accepted such transfers and some of these agents are languishing in police custody some even in jail and till date, they can't provide those who they gave the cash to coz they genuinely do not know them.

Okonsbecky:
Which POS can pay millions in cash??

Kuginzi:
https://dailytrust.com/terrorists-using-pos-for-ransom-collections-fg/?noamp=available