Nigeria: Failing to Curb Crime

With steady stream of terrorist attacks in the country, Nigeria's CCTV project's greatest value appears to be to those who make money out of selling it, as police authorities and other stakeholders fail to use the cameras to prevent crime.

At 2pm last Thursday, the same day that Nyanya bus park was attacked by terrorist group for the second time in less than two weeks, with a record death of 19 and scores of injured people, the control room of the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) behind the police headquarters in Abuja was empty, except that there was just one policeman monitoring feedback from about 1,000 cameras. "That has been the practice," a source at police headquarters told THISDAY. Yes, Nigeria's capital and a few other major cities in the country boast of having CCTVs, but no thought had gone into how to effectively use and maintain them. So a huge investment in closed-circuit TV technology has failed to prevent crime. "Going through CCTV images has not been taken very seriously by the police. They just consider it hard work," said a senior police officer in Abuja. So residents of Abuja now appear vulnerable to terror attacks especially in the light of scores of such acts that have successfully passed through the supposedly prying eyes of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) installations in the city's strategic areas. And determined not to be caught unaware anymore, they have resorted to self -help. For instance text messages are being used to alert residents to security issues in form of citizens' action. One of the most recent texts reads: "Attention! New discovery, with the insecurity situation in Nigeria now, we have to be security conscious. You see people around looking tattered, we see them as scavengers. Reports have it that they are on a mission to destroy. One was caught with a bomb on Saturday here in Abuja, another caught with a bomb in his scavenging barrow in a mosque yesterday around the Garki area of Abuja; they are everywhere now, let's be alert, spread the news, don't read and keep, forward to family and friends. They drop explosives around populated areas in bins or trash cans. Stay alert." This and many other similar broadcast messages are sent almost on daily basis to people's cell phones warning them to stay alert and away from populated areas. It has suddenly become a norm in Abuja considering that all of the known occasions that terrorists have made attempts on the lives of residents have unfortunately been successful and sometimes under close proximity of one of the CCTV cameras. From close studies, each of these known occasions have seen scores of people die in explosions from implanted bombs or willing suicide bombers who detonate explosives at target locations. A conservative figure of 221 deaths and 317 injuries has so far been recorded from as many of these terrorist acts that are majorly linked to the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram. From the October 1, 2010 Independence Day bombing to the June 16, 2011 Police headquarters bombing, and then the August 26, 2011 bombing of the United Nations headquarters, the CCTV cameras have not been used adequately to stop crime. Not even with the most recent bombing of Nyanya bus park has changed anything. So irrespective of the multibillion naira CCTV project that was initiated by the government to augment whatever measures that are put in to secure the federal capital city from internal and external assaults on its harmony, the constant breach of security in Abuja has increased the anxiety of residents who are primarily at the centre of the crossfire. For example, the United Nations headquarters bombing was the first suicide-bombing in Nigeria to target an international body, and while it rattled foreign residents living in Abuja, it equally raised questions about the government's convincing plans against terrorist attacks in Nigeria and Abuja. But the CCTV projects had been installed, tested and certified to be functional especially within the city centres when the UN building was bombed, yet no known surveillance data was reportedly gleaned from its control room to help unravel what transpired before the actual act. Really, the CCTV project is a part of the N76 billion National Public Security Communications Systems Project (NPSCSP), which was conceptualised by the President Umaru Yar'Adua administration to provide a multimedia communication system for the police and other security agencies in the country to fight off growing criminal activities in the country. In its current form, the project is expected to generate voice, video and data, using the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology as a key component of the war against terrorism and violent crimes in Nigeria. The NPSCSP was designed to operate through two main switch centres located in Abuja and Lagos, with 12 base stations controllers and about 769 base transmitting station sites around the country. A person familiar with the process told THISDAY that the project was successfully completed and handed over to Nigerian government in 2012. "ZTE assisted to fuel the base stations for additional six months. It is the sole responsibility of the Ministry of Science and Technology to ensure the facilities are put to use. This include fuelling the base stations, ensuring that the cameras are not stolen and making sure that the trained staff are manning the switch centres and base stations all over the nation. The execution of the project supervised by key ministries and agencies like the Ministry of Police Affairs, Nigeria Police Force, Nigcomsat, Ministry of Finance and National Security Adviser was implemented in accordance to specification and contract term. A certificate of completion was issued to ZTE in December 2012 by the government," the source said.

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