Concerns over CCTVs in Lagos as insecurity heightens in north

As insecurity mounts in parts of northern Nigeria with intermittent attacks and killings by Boko Haram insurgents, there is growing concern in the southern states over measures in place to secure lives and property in those states.

Particularly in Lagos, the nation’s commercial capital, with an estimated 20 million inhabitants, the concerns arise from speculations that the Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras installed across the state may not be functioning. There are fears that several of the CCTV cameras are not working and that if this is so, it could undermine surveillance for security purposes. 

Industry watchers say that Lagos, being Nigeria’s economic nerve centre hosting an international airport, two seaports, the Nigeria Stock Exchange, head offices of major banks, insurance companies and multi-national organisations, must be painstakingly watched over.

The CCTV project commissioned by the Federal Government over four years ago had seen close to 1,000 cameras installed in the state under the “safe city project”, but there are doubts that they are aiding security operatives in the state in tracking crime.

In parts of the northern Nigeria, particularly Yobe, Adamawa and Borno, and Abuja, the federal capital, attacks by the insurgents have resulted in loss of thousands of lives and wanton destruction of property, with the insurgents recently threatening to extend the attacks to southern parts of the country.

The death toll in the latest twin bomb blasts at the Terminus Main Market in Jos, Plateau State, on Tuesday, has risen to more than 200, emergency agency and health officials said on Wednesday. This is as commercial activities on Wednesday grounded to a halt in Jos following the blasts.

Recent false alarms about attempted attacks by Boko Haram insurgents on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and a bomb scare last week on Lagos Island had jolted the city of Lagos, spreading fear among residents and businesses.

A police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told BusinessDay that he was not sure the Lagos command of the Nigeria Police was tracking crime with the street cameras, except those installed in offices, hotels and banks.

“The ones I can tell you we have employed in the course of investigating crimes so far are those installed in hotels and banks. But those ones in the streets, not too sure,” the police source said on Monday.

Before the Federal Government’s decision to install the CCTVs, Lagos State on its part had planned to install about 10,000 solar-powered cameras across the state to assist security agents in their fight against crime.

Justifying the need for the cameras in the early years of his administration, Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State governor, had lamented that about 33,000 policemen in the state were inadequate to effectively provide security for a growing population of over 20 million Lagosians, and that the security agencies needed to be assisted with modern technology in the discharge of their responsibility as obtainable in properly organised societies.

“In an information technology-driven world, we have to be counted as one of those states and communities which will adopt best practices. Cameras, sensors, tracking devices are the nerve centre of these facilities that would assist men and officers of the police force, fire service, among others, to do their duty much more effectively,” Fashola had said.

However, the Lagos 10,000 cameras project had to be put on hold when the Federal Government stepped in with theirs, which was to install 1,000 cameras in the first phase to be scaled up in the second phase, which is now stalled.

Toyin Ayinde, Lagos commissioner for physical planning and urban development, whose ministry partnered the government at the centre in the cameras, had told BusinessDay that Lagos temporarily stopped its own project to enable it know where the Federal Government would install theirs, so as to ensure wider coverage and avoid duplication.

JOSHUA BASSEY