The Director-General of National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Halilu Shaba has revealed that Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists have become sophisticated in their mode of operations.
According to him, waves received by the agency from remote areas show the bandits no longer use Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) phones, but walkie-talkie.
Revealing these in an interview with journalists in Abuja after an interactive meeting with staff of the agency, Shaba lamented that NASRDA is at present ill-equipped to monitor the bandits because of inadequate satellite and other facilities.
“The Satellite is not static where the insurgency is taking place. That is why one satellite is not adequate. What Nigeria has are some two satellites doing two different things.
“We have a High-Resolution imaging satellite and Medium Resolution imaging satellite.
“The activities of the bandits could be when the satellite was away from Nigerian borders, so that is why we are advocating for more satellites for Nigeria,” he said.
Shaba, therefore, called for collaboration between the agency and security agencies in the country in the area of information sharing, especially when planning to launch attacks on the criminal elements.
