In a major shift toward high-tech counter-insurgency, the Nigerian Federal Government has launched a coordinated offensive against the digital presence of terrorist organizations. Security agencies are now working in direct collaboration with global social media giants to identify, track, and permanently dismantle accounts used for propaganda, recruitment, and illicit fundraising.
The Director-General of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Maj.-Gen. Adamu Laka, unveiled this strategy during a year-end security briefing on Tuesday, the 23rd of December, 2025. He emphasized that the battlefield has shifted from physical forests to digital platforms, requiring a sophisticated, data-driven response.
Maj.-Gen. Laka revealed that platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and X have become primary tools for insurgents to publicize operations and communicate with global sympathizers. To combat this, the NCTC has established a direct line of engagement with these corporations to enforce national security standards.
Addressing the success of these interventions, Laka stated: “The issue of social media platforms used by terrorist groups if you knew how many accounts we took down. We have had several meetings with these social media platforms like: TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and X. They are businesses looking to grow their subscribers, but we engage them, explain the effects of certain posts on national security, and we take them down. There was a time when bandits would go on TikTok showing their loot. We took those accounts down you don’t see that again. At some point, they were even doing live streams and holding conversations, but we’ve been able to handle all that.”
Despite these victories, Laka warned that groups are increasingly using aliases and unverified accounts to evade detection a move that has forced security agencies to constantly recalibrate their digital surveillance strategies.
The briefing also shed light on a troubling trend in terror financing: the exploitation of Point-of-Sale (POS) operators. According to the NCTC, kidnappers and bandits are bypassing traditional banking scrutiny by using POS businesses as intermediaries for ransom payments.
By providing victims’ families with a POS operator’s account number, criminals can receive funds and withdraw cash without ever stepping into a bank, making the money trail significantly harder to follow.
“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,” Laka explained.
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The NCTC chief linked the recent surge in domestic insecurity to broader geopolitical shifts in the Sahel region. He noted that military coups in neighboring countries have weakened regional cooperation, allowing terrorist networks to flow across porous borders.
Laka concluded with a firm commitment to regional leadership and future readiness: “Towards the end of 2023, the security situation in Nigeria was improving. But after the coups in some Sahel countries, the situation worsened because these terrorist groups have connections across the region. So Nigeria has to play a leadership role in West Africa and the Sahel to address these threats. As long as those countries continue to face these challenges, Nigeria will also face them. We are doing our best, and we will not relent. In 2026, we are going to up our game.”
Nigeria’s proactive stance has already yielded international dividends. By aligning with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards through joint investigations with the judiciary and financial intelligence units, the government has successfully accelerated the prosecution of terror financiers and the seizure of criminal assets.