Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, has said that terrorist groups now use social media platforms for the recruitment of new followers to commit crimes in the country.
Pantami stated this on Tuesday while delivering a lecture on leadership in counter-terrorism and violent extremism at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Abuja.
The Minister said, “It is evident that terrorists are exploiting social media, encrypted communications, and the dark web to spread propaganda, recruit new followers and coordinate attacks.
“This rapidly evolving phenomenon requires the use of innovative approaches to prevent terrorism and extremism.
“The development of new and emerging technologies such as Big Data Analytics, Internet of Things, Robotics, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence will help counter and prevent the terrorists’ latest ploys.
“The military and intelligence agencies can use big data to fight the war against terrorism. Data can be analyzed to understand the background, motives, modus operandi and methods of communication of persons or groups of interest.”
Pantami further stated that the massive increase in computing power and advances in machine learning had made it possible to examine huge amounts of data related to crime and terrorism, to identify underlying correlations and causes.
He urged the security agencies in Nigeria to tap into the resources availed by technology and use them as potent tools for ousting the insurgents from the country.
