ALTON Seeks Protection, Favours Legislation of LIoC Regime

Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) said the protection of operators is critical to the successful Lawful Interceptions of Communication (LIoC) being proposed by federal government through the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC).

Engineer Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of ALTON said that the intended regulations should not be skewed against the operators that are already plagued by several operational, infrastructural and customer related challenges. 

He said: “The right of Law Enforcement Agencies to secure access to communications in the national interest must be balanced against the equally important need to protect individual freedoms.

“The requisite legal framework must provide sufficient safeguards against abuse and opportunities for redress.  There must also be very clear supervisory and reporting provisions.

“It is critical that network operators who implement interception in the national interest should be protected against civil and criminal liability in very clear and specific terms. This further underscores the need for a duly enacted legislation”.

Adebayo said law enforcement and security agencies must be duly empowered both in terms of occupational and technology hardware as well as software to perform their statutory responsibilities for the protection of all citizens.

“The capacity to legitimately intercept communications of suspected felons and other undesirable elements”, he said, “is a key requirement for lawful intercept to succeed. Such powers for the security agencies are however may be susceptible to abuse.

“Also, given the very intrusive nature of such powers and the need to protect the constitutionally guaranteed rights, there must be legally enforceable safeguards.

“Experience in the USA (the Verizon cases) has shown that telecoms operators who co-operate with law enforcement agencies in good faith and in the national interest may be subjected to very serious civil and criminal liabilities – we the (operators) should be protected by law.

“It is therefore critical that the National Assembly urgently provide a comprehensive legal framework addressing these concerns, this should be the starting point and then the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) Regulations merely prescribe procedures.

He however said, currently, in trying to fill the gap, the NCC’s draft Regulations have sought to impose obligations on parties who are not ordinarily subject to its jurisdiction, such as Judges and Law Enforcement Agencies. “Therefore, the National Assembly should be the starting point for specific law governing interception of communications,” the ALTON chairman said.