NSCDC Chief Says Glo Family & Friends Finder is Good Security Tool

The Family & Friends Finder service recently launched by Globacom, Nigeria's only operational national telecoms carrier, has been described as both timely and revolutionary.

Sup. Sunday Olaiya, chieftain of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), said the service is coming at a time when all hands need to be on deck to curb the increased menace of violent crimes, especially kidnapping and human trafficking.

Commenting on the product during its public demonstration recently in Lagos, Sup. Olaiya commended Globacom for introducing the ‎Glo Family and Friends Finder, noting that it will provide tremendous assistance to security officials in tracking criminals.

According to him, “since the facility can be used without the active participation of the person being tracked, particularly if the person had earlier given his or her consent, missing persons, kidnapped persons and kidnappers can easily be located.”

“All we have to do is to send “find” and  the number of the kidnapped person to the platform  and the general location will be revealed,” he explained to the guests at the demonstration event.

He added that the Family & Friends Finder which works by a simple SMS command will increase personal, family and business security drastically. “And there are no negative implications,” he said.

Throwing more light on this, Mr. Adeniyi Olukoya, Globacom’s marketing coordinator, said that user privacy is fully protected, as it requires the other person’s permission to be located by the subscriber. “If a person doesn’t provide consent ab initio, such a person cannot be located by others,” he said.

To find a person all the subscriber has to do is to send the text “find” followed by the telephone number of the person to be found to 5511.

The platform will alert the person to be found also by SMS who would in turn reply “yes,” to give consent that he should be located and followed. Each request will be charged at N50 per SMS. The response is free.

As soon as the consent response is sent, the originator will immediately receive an sms from 5511 indicating the location of the tracked person.

The Glo Family & Friend’s Finder can be used on any handset. While a smart phone user has the option of receiving a pinpoint of the tracked person’s location on a Google® map, a normal handset will receive the information via SMS.

A particular number has to give consent only once and will subsequently be located without further consent.

Since the service is restricted to only Glo subscribers, Olukoya advised all Nigerians to subscribe to it as it will contribute to efforts to provide security for the entire family.

 All an interested person needs to do is to quickly pick up a Glo SIM at any Gloworld shop, register it and activate the service without any further delay, he said.