The Nigerian Senate has asked Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to investigate the implementation of the $500 million contract for the installation of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in the FCT.
The resolution was sequel to a motion sponsored by Ned Nwoko (PDP, Delta North) at the plenary on Wednesday on the spate of kidnappings in the capital city.
The installation of CCTV cameras was a project conceived by the administration of late President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2008 during a visit to China.
The project was awarded to a Chinese firm, ZTE Communications in 2010. The contract provided for the installation of five components, including the video surveillance system and comprehensive, reliable, modern and robust public security communication technology. This meant that the project was to provide audio, video and data information for use by the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to boost security in the FCT.
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The CCTV camera project was to be funded with a $600m financing portfolio, which was secured as a soft loan, with three percent interest repayable in ten years, after an initial ten years of grace.
In 2019, the House of Representatives committee on finance demanded an explanation of the CCTV camera project from Zainab Ahmed, the then minister of finance. Ahmed had said Nigeria was servicing the loan but she could not provide explanations on the status of the project.
“We are servicing the loan but, on the project, we will have to ask the FCT authority because the project was deployed in the FCT, I have no information on the status of the CCTV”, she told the lawmakers.
Residents of the FCT and several security experts have called for the installation of CCTV as obtained in other climes to boost surveillance, as security deteriorated.
Nwoko, while presenting his motion at the Senate stressed that despite a series of security measures already in existence, kidnapping and other insecurity challenges persist within the nation’s capital.
The lawmaker said his senior legislative aide and 18 other persons were abducted two weeks ago from their residence around the Galadimawa area of Abuja.
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He noted that security sources on the abduction indicated that 12 out of the victims had been killed by their abductors, while efforts to rescue the remaining seven were still ongoing.
Nwoko called for a joint security operation involving the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police Force and State Security Services for a rescue operation of the victims, and installation of CCTV cameras in the FCT and environs.
Adamu Aliero (PDP, Kebbi Central) while contributing to the debate, revealed that over $500 million was awarded to a contractor for the installation of CCTV cameras in the Abuja metropolis, during his his tenure as minister of FCT between 2018 and 2010.
They decried that the installation of the CCTV cameras in the Abuja metropolis was abandoned, even though the money was disbursed. He therefore called for a probe on the contract.
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“The contractor came and installed useless cameras and nobody said anything. It is now time for us to revisit the issue of the $500 million award of contract for the installation of CCTV cameras in the city.
“We should make the contractor account for the huge loss of money. The project has gone down the drain and nobody is talking about it,” Aliero said.
The Senate consequently mandated its committees on defence and police affairs to conduct a thorough investigation into the recent kidnappings and similar incidents in and around Abuja, and to recommend robust strategies to prevent future kidnappings within the FCT.
After debate on the issue, Godswill Akpabio, the Senate president, put it to voice vote and the majority of the senators voted in support of it.
