The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has decried how the failed $470 Million (N76 Billion) National Public Security Communications System Project in Abuja, otherwise known as the CCTV Camera Project, which was supposed to help Nigeria shore-up her security has remained shrouded in mystery, wastage and embezzlement of scarce national resources.
The APCPCO Director of Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu in a statement in Abuja on Sunday lamented the shoddy and inadequate delivery on the project which was designed to cover Abuja, Lagos, Ibadan, Bayelsa, Kaduna and Kano in its pilot phase.
The CCTV project was initiated by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s administration in year 2010 and taken over by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan shortly after it was to be funded from a $470 Million credit facility from the EXIM Bank of China with a 3percent interest payable in 10 years. The Federal Government made an initial payment of 15 percent amounting to $70.5 Million, thereafter, 1000 units of the CCTV were installed in Lagos and Abuja, but none has worked since they were installed.
The Project was abandoned three years after execution and the cameras are now ghosts of themselves or rather a mere decoration within the city. The project was to generate voice, video and data using the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology to tackle terrorism, armed robbery, kidnapping and other crimes. It was supposed to operate through two main switch centers with 12 Base Station Controllers and about 600 Base Training Station sites with central control unit at the Police Force Headquarters in Abuja.
In ciew of the abandonment despite the huge amount of money expended, the APC Campaign queried the sincerity of the Nigerian Government in its battle against insecurity and corruption, when it could not deliver on a project that was supposed to use technology, which President Jonathan lately has a passion for, to make cities in the country safer like is the practise in other countries.
“It is heartbreaking that in an era that we are confronted by huge security challenges, especially as it relates to the insurgency, the Jonathan administration has failed woefully to deliver on the safe cities’ project after billions of our scarce resources have been spent, wasted or stolen on these phantom projects that have not added any value to the nation’s security asset,” Shehu said.
He added that it is bewildering that the PDP-led government has failed to report on the status of Abuja CCTV Camera Project even after the House of Representatives ordered probe and countless petitions to the anti-graft agency.
“The PDP-led government owes Nigerians an explanation on the status of this project. This project must not go the way of several others, as it is too central to our security architecture to let some greedy persons to undermine it,” Shehu said.
“The questions agitating our minds are who are these greedy persons and what happened to the project? The Federal Government, the FCT Administration, the Nigerian Police Force and the Chinese Company that was awarded the contract have been trading blames but Nigerians need to be assured that the money deployed for this project has not vanished into individual pockets.”
