For security reasons, the federal government under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, ordered the installation of 1000 closed-circuit television (CCTV) in the nation’s capital. Another batch of 1000 was supposed to be installed in the nation’s commercial capital, Lagos. Awarded to a Chinese company, ZTE, at $470m (over N90bn), it was funded from a credit facility from the Exim Bank of China with three per cent interest payable in 10 years. The project was fully completed and handed over after the federal government made an initial payment of 15 per cent amounting to $70.5million. Surprisingly, when the House of Representatives made an oversight visit to the Nigeria Police, last Monday, only 40 of the CCTV cameras were working. The remaining 960 in Abuja “were down”.
Nigeria Police Force operators of the CCTV described the project now as ghost of themselves and condemned it as a “total and colossal failure”. We wonder why CCTV, a hi-tech video surveillance and e-policing gadget which have recorded tremendous successes in tracking crimes and criminals in most advanced countries failed colossally in Nigeria. It is also curious that the contractors, reputed to be among the best globally, denied any wrong-doing in the execution of the project, saying it completed and delivered one of world’s best Video Surveillance System (VSS) to the Federal Government. What ZTE said went wrong was that the Federal Government failed to operate and maintain the project. ZTE also complained about non-operational fund as reasons for shutting down completely on the project around 2013. All these are coming out eight years after the project took off and three years after it failed. We reject Police submission that these items were vandalised years after delivery.
That, in itself, is a sad commentary of our public infrastructure planning, execution and maintenance that the VSS project failed in Abuja when there is a groundswell of evidence that the project was carefully and professionally installed, every payment made and every decision taken on the project thoroughly completed, tested and every component working at the time of delivery to the federal government.
In our opinion, it is the height of indiscipline that the federal government would treat this all-important project with appalling levity. How can government explain its role in failing to power down the backbone for the communication system because it was not forthcoming in maintaining and operating the system? We are aware that this is a complete communication system, fitted with phones for security agencies, and some people decided to lock them down.
Sadder still, in our view, is the fact that components of emergency communication vehicles that were supposed to be delivered and people to be trained from the police and other security services and the 670 base stations for the operationalisation of the VSS project were ignored until the cameras became redundant.
We urge the federal government to scrupulously interrogate the circumstances leading to the collapse of the video surveillance system. Where compromises have been made people should be sanctioned and dereliction of duty should also attract some reprimand. It is undeniable that incompetence more than corruption was responsible for the failure of the VSS project.
Culled from LeadershipNG
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