$470m CCTV Camera Probe: Contractor Says Facilities were Not Utilised

CCTV Camera

Iyobosa Uwugiaren in Abuja

Chinese telecommunications giant, ZTE, sunday said the current probe into the  $470 million National Public Security Communication System (NPSCS) project would finally put to rest all public misconceptions about the project.

The company also said the probe would unravel why the equipment was left unutilised and allowed to waste.

The project, which was initiated during the administration of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua for the installation of CCTV cameras in Abuja and Lagos to curb insecurity, is currently being probed by the National Assembly.

In a statement by its Managing Director, Mr. Hao Fuqiang, he said: “We welcome this probe because we are sure we will come out clean. We have consistently maintained that the project was fully completed and final texts completed. The acceptance certificates are available for scrutiny.

“We are also proud that we built and delivered one of the most sophisticated security communication tools for the Nigerian government and Nigerian people. We believe the probe will unravel why the equipment were left unutilised and allowed to waste.

“Though this is the third time this project is being probed, we welcome it and will give full cooperation to the committee because it is an opportunity for us to state our own side of the story. We hope that the government will do all within its powers to resuscitate this very important project.”

The CEO of ZTE said the NPSCS’ project is made up of five components or subsystems, which have been fully completed and tested.

First, he stated in the statement that the Global Open Trunking Architecture (GoTa) sub-system was the dominant component of the system.

“It is a CDMA-based voice and data telecommunications system with National coverage. It operates through 2 Mobile Switch Centres (MSC) with one each in Lagos and Abuja, 12Nos Base Station Controller (BSC), 675 Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and 21 Microwave repeaters. The GoTa system supports the deployment of 1.5 million subscriber lines,’’ the company added.

The second component: Video surveillance subsystem, a system comprising 2,000 surveillance cameras with a thousand each installed in Abuja and Lagos respectively, according to the telecommunication, is the easily noticed component of the project.

He said the application of solar solutions in this subsystem was informed by the electricity power challenges in the country and the need to ensure sustained operations of the cameras wherever they are installed saying, this component is only about 12 per cent of the total package of the project.

The third component is the video conferencing subsystem a kind of subsystem, which provides a platform for real time video conferencing for the Nigeria Police Force across all commands and the Force Headquarters.

While the fourth and fifth include the e-policing subsystem that facilitates the deployment of e-policing databases, and the Coalition Emergency Response subsystem, which is a platform for national emergency communication - using the short code of 911 for emergency and /distress calls and 912 for anonymous security information. It also empowers the security agencies to carry out coordinated response.

The former Managing Director of Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited, Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai, Mr. Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai, had during the public hearing on the matter told the  House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee to investigate the award of CCTV cameras in Abuja and Lagos.

He said the project was fully completed by ZTE, but the federal government failed to operate and maintain it.

According to Ahmed-Rufai, “We had a team of 25 engineers that went to every location to verify different stages of the project. We issued acceptance certificates after which payments were made to the contractor. There were milestones that were all carefully and professionally observed by the project implementation team.

“As the project consultant, I stand by every payment that was made and every decision taken on the project. The project was completed, tested and every component was working.

“It is erroneous for anyone to call the project a CCTV project because the Video Surveillance System (VSS) is even less than eight per cent on the project. There were five components and they were all completed. We need to be straight in how we discuss this issue.”

He added that they had to power down the backbone for the communication system because government was not forthcoming in maintaining and operating the system saying, it was a complete communication system, there were phones for security agencies, they were special phones for security agencies which some people decided to lock up somewhere. 

He further stated: “There were emergency communication vehicles, they were all delivered, people were trained, from the police and other agencies but somehow some people decided not to operate the system. Those cameras depend on a backbone that has over 670 base stations. Those BTS have to be powered for the cameras to work; the project is like someone who bought a brand new car but refused to sell it.”