Terrorists Exploiting PoS Operators, Social Media for Funding, Warns Government

By Micheal Chukwuebuka

The Federal Government has raised concerns over the growing use of Point of Sale (PoS) operators and social media platforms by terrorists to finance and promote criminal activities.

The Director-General of the National Counter Terrorism Centre, Major-General Adamu Laka, disclosed this on Tuesday during the Centre’s 2025 end-of-year press briefing at its headquarters in Abuja. Laka said ransom payments remain a major source of terrorism financing, noting that PoS operators are increasingly being exploited to move such funds and evade detection.

He explained that kidnappers often provide victims’ families with PoS account details, making it harder for security agencies to trace the money. “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,” he said.

The NCTC boss also revealed that Nigerian security agencies are working closely with major social media companies to identify and shut down accounts used by terrorists and criminal groups to spread propaganda and raise funds. “These platforms are businesses and are interested in growing their user base, but we engage them and explain the implications of certain posts on national security, and we take them down,” Laka said.

He added that terrorist tactics continue to evolve, including the use of aliases and unverified accounts, stressing that security agencies are constantly adapting to counter emerging threats.