Ministry clamps down on 140 illegal users of radio frequency

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Ali Pantami, has said the Ministry has clamped down about 140 illegal users of radio frequency spectrum in 2021.

The Minister revealed this at a Press conference held in Kano on Friday, on the implication of unauthorised use and sale of private mobile radio.

Pantami, who spoke through the Director Human Resources of the Ministry, Dr Famous Eseduwo said the users were detected in other radio monitoring activities.

The scenario Pantami said, should not be allowed to continue due to the danger it posed in the country.

The Ministry he explained, had procured and commissioned state-of-art equipment that us capable of monitoring, detecting, locating and denying service to sources of electromagnetic emissions.

“These equipment are deployed to each of the International Radio Monitoring, Interferance and Survey Centres (IRMI and SC) at Abuja that serves the North-Central zone.

“The Ministry hopes to technically deal with illegal users, hence dire need for members of the public, companies and private sectors to technically and financially be compliant with requirements of use of radio frequency. ” Pantami explained.

He therefore revealed that the Ministry’s enforcement team is in regular inspection of premises that have radio communication installations, especially those that use walkie-talkie radio.

The inspection he said, is to ensure that they are duly authorised to use such radios and so it is expected that they be accorded due to cooperation to enable them discharge their duties credibly.

In addition, the Minister restate the commitment of the Ministry to continue synergize with relevant stakeholders across the Federal, States and local governments towards effective transformation of the country into a truly digital economy.

This he said, will bring sanity of the radio frequency spectrum, while improving its revenue generation simultaneously.