The Ad-hoc Committee on increasing incidents of SIM swap fraud on Tuesday walked out major network service providers whose Chief Executive Officers were represented by their managers.
The three-day public investigative hearing chaired by Hon. Abubakar Hassan Fulata began on Monday but had representatives of network providers and banks appearing on Tuesday.
Infuriated by the development, the Committee Chairman ordered the affected service providers and banks out of the hearing, insisting that their Chief Executive Officers were the right people to deal with.
“Our letter was clear on appearance of CEOs and not managers. The Committee will not entertain anyone other than your CEOs. You are therefore, ordered out of this place.
The affected Service providers are: Airtel, 9 mobile, MTN, Etisalat, Access Bank, Sterling Bank, and Union Bank.
Meanwhile, Guaranty Trust Bank, FCMB and Zenith Bank were absent from the hearing without explanation.
Eco Bank representative in his submission to the Committee revealed that cyber criminals carry out their activities at midnight when Bank customers were fast asleep.
He stated: “Cybercrime is a sophisticated operation that allows hackers access to bank customers accounts, they operate majorly at nights when bank customers are fast asleep.
He advised the public to minimize the sharing of personal information over the Internet.
Chairman of the Committee vowed to punish the defaulting network service providers who declined to attend the investigative hearing, saying that it was only in Nigeria that people could be taken for granted.
“We are going to publish those defaulters to alert the public that they did not cooperate”, while he emphasized that they would be arrested at the appropriate time.
