Section 26: Intelligence gathering.

(1) Without prejudice to any other Act or enactment, the Attorney General of the Federation, the National Security Adviser or the Inspector General of Police may, for the purposes of the prevention or detection of offences or the prosecution of offenders under this Act, give such directions as appear to him to be necessary to any communication service provider.
(2) Before giving an approval under this section, the National Security Adviser or Inspector General of Police may consult with any communication service provider.
(3) A direction under this section shall specify the maximum period for which a communication service provider may be required to retain communications data.
(4) In this section:
"communication service provider" means a person who pervades postal, information or communication services, including telecommunications service; and
"data" means any information, generated, sent, received, or stored, that can be retrieved by electronic, magnetic, optical or any similar means.