Claims by Nigeria’s Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Minister Bosun Tijani that armed bandits evade tracking by using so-called call bouncers have been publicly challenged by technology professionals.
The controversy followed comments by Tijani during an appearance on Channels Television where he spoke about the difficulty of tracking phone calls linked to kidnappings and banditry despite the mandatory linkage of SIM cards to national identity numbers.
During the interview, Tijani said criminal groups were using some kind of technology to make calls
“a special kind of technology” to make calls, claiming they were “not using the normal towers” and instead “bouncing calls off multiple towers”, he said, and also claimed complicated efforts to trace them.
The remarks quickly drew attention online, where several Nigerian technology professionals questioned the accuracy of the explanation and its consistency with established mobile network standards.
One technology strategist, who publishes under the name Elyon, released a detailed technical breakdown on social media disputing the minister’s description.
In a widely shared thread, he argued that modern cellular networks do not support the idea of phones simultaneously “bouncing” calls across towers to evade detection.
“Before I start sir, I’d love you to be aware that Calls aren’t “bounced” between towers to route them; that’s handled by switches and routers in the core network. If a call involves handover e.g. while moving, it seamlessly shifts from one tower to another, but this doesn’t hide the location as it often makes it easier to track via historical data” he said in a series of X post
According to the explanation, mobile devices connect to a single serving cell at any given time, whether on 2G, 3G, 4G or 5G networks.
While phones can move between cells as users travel, such handovers are logged by network systems and generate records that indicate location, timing and signal strength.
The thread outlined how call detail records, tracking area identities and location updates are routinely generated during calls and even when devices are idle, meaning that movement between towers typically increases, rather than reduces, the amount of location data available to operators and security agencies.
The technical explanation was accompanied by diagrams of network architecture and references to standard telecom protocols, and was widely circulated, attracting thousands of interactions and comments within a day.
The debate has played out against the backdrop of Nigeria’s ongoing security challenges, particularly in the north-west and north-central regions, where armed groups frequently abduct civilians and demand ransoms, often communicating with victims’ families by phone.
Successive governments have pointed to the 2021 enforcement of the National Identification Number–SIM linkage as a key tool for combating such crimes.
Under the policy, all mobile lines are required to be registered with biometric data, theoretically enabling easier identification of users.
However, implementation gaps, limited network coverage in remote areas and delays in real-time data analysis have continued to hamper security operations, according to officials.
Tijani’s comments were interpreted by many viewers as an attempt to explain why tracking efforts have produced mixed results.
Meanwhile, critics, however, say inaccurate public explanations risk undermining confidence in digital governance and security reforms.
