Unregulated scrap economy and the security of telecommunications infrastructure in Nigeria

Abstract

Telecommunication base stations constitute critical national infrastructure that supports not only civilian communication but also national security operations. Recent patterns of theft targeting Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIBs) and other high-value active components from these facilities in Nigeria have revealed a disturbing convergence between economic opportunism and organized criminality. These stolen assets, originally intended to ensure network resilience and uninterrupted service are increasingly finding their way into informal markets and insurgent logistics chains, thereby amplifying the operational capabilities of non-state armed actors. This study examines the intersection between the unregulated scrap metal economy and the security of Nigeria’s telecommunications infrastructure, with particular attention to the role of metal recycling industries that engage in advance financing of scrap dealers within the informal pantaker market. Such practices have inadvertently created an incentive structure that fuels systematic vandalism of armour cables, LIBs, power transmission lines, bridge rails, and fibre optic networks, some of which are erroneously believed to contain precious metals such as gold. Anchored on the Opportunity Structure Theory, the study employs a mixed-methods forensic design, drawing data from the Directorate of Critical National Assets and Infrastructure Protection under the Office of the National Security Adviser, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the National Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), and telecommunications security audit reports. Findings that emanate from the study indicate that LIB theft and related infrastructure vandalism constitute an organized criminal enterprise facilitated by informal recyclers and middlemen, with proceeds exhibiting possible linkages to terrorism financing networks. The study recommends the establishment of a Smart Forensic Tracking Framework (SFTF) to trace stolen LIBs and related materials, the creation of Special Vandalism Courts and the outright ban on exportation of scrap metals from Nigeria as such deny local industries that relies on the elusive minimal stock feed. These measures are essential to strengthen regulatory oversight, disrupt the illicit scrap-metal value chain, and ensure the sustainable protection of Nigeria’s Critical National Assets and Infrastructure (CNAI).