The Office of the National Security Adviser, headed by retired Major General Babagana Monguno, has warned that the deployment of 5th Generation Network could be a threat to national security if deployed wrongly and left in the hands of wrong persons.
This was even as the Minister of Communication and Digital Technology, Isa Pantani, has said the country would soon produce a national policy on the 5G Network deployment in Nigeria based on an extensive research conducted by the Federal Government in partnership with stakeholders and global bodies.
The Director of Communications, Office of the National Security Adviser, Bala Fakandu, gave the warning during an investigative public hearing on the present status of 5G network in Nigeria and its technological impact by the Senate Joint Committee on Communications, Science and Technology and ICT on Thursday.
Fakandu said 5G Network will require telecommunications operators in Nigeria to upgrade their equipment to the new technology adaptable, which if not properly deployed could serve as tools for eavesdropping, cyber attacks and even espionage by external forces.
He said the Office of the NSA shared its fears with the Nigerian Communications Commission during its initial trial of the technology in the country and expects that the concerns will be properly addressed in the draft national policy when it is ready.
He said: “We are aware that the deployment of 5G will come with different equipment.
“We are concerned about eavesdropping, cyber attacks, espionage by external forces.
“But they are things that need to be put in the national policy for operators.”
Pantami told the gathering that the research so far conducted on the technology revealed that it may not have health or security implications on citizens.
He said the required research and testings had been carried out in seven different locations in the country without any adverse effect as earlier insinuated in some quarters.
He said: “On the 19th of September, the process of trial to study the impact of 5G in Nigeria was approved by the Federal Government in some selected places: Abuja, Kano, Lagos, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Calabar and Port Harcourt.
“We did the trials because you can’t just accept a new technology the way it comes.
“You need to study it.
“As we were studying it, international organisations like World Health Organization, International Telecommunication Union, etc, also carried out their research and certified that the Network is not injurious in anyway to the people of the country where it is being operated or affect their infrastructure.
“On 25 of September, 2019, we conducted the first trial of 5G in Nigeria.
“I did the trial personally.
“So if there is any implications in terms of radiation or relationship with COVID-19, I would have been the first victim because I did it.
“I’m grateful to God, to date I have never contracted the virus.
“We are in the process of policy making.
“Though we are not yet there, where we can deploy 5G now, but definitely we are on track towards doing that in a matter of months.”
Pantami added that 4G being used in the country now is more harmful than 5G in terms of intensity of radiation.
He said: “Radiation of microwaves is 19 times more than that of 5G.
“Radiation of smart phones is six times more than that of 5G, just as radiation of air driers is far more harmful than that of 5G being anticipated.
“As for alleged linkage with COVID-19 pandemic, China, where the virus started, is using 5G and as at today, no single case of COVID-19 in the country (from 5G).
“Lesotho is a very good example of a country that had not recorded any case of COVID-19 and yet fully operating on 5G, telecommunication wise.”