Governor Babatunde Fashola
The
cold war between the Federal Government and Lagos State Government may
be the reason why the latter has stopped the Lagos Safe City Project, a
scheme aimed at providing 10,000 solar-powered closed circuit cameras
all over the metropolis, Saturday PUNCH has learnt.
This emerged against the backdrop of the
increasing cases of kidnapping in Lagos, a menace that has defied
efforts by the police and other in the state.
While making enquiries about police
effort in tracking kidnappers through the security cameras in the state,
a police source at the State Criminal Investigation Department told our
correspondent that security cameras had never been used in their
investigations.
“The only time we make use of CCTV
cameras is when our investigation takes us to a hotel or mall with
security cameras. But if it is a crime committed on a Lagos road, forget
it,” the source said.
Governor Babatunde Fashola had stated in
January 2009 that the 10,000 cameras the state planned to install were
to help to reduce crime in the state.
At a demonstration event, Fashola said
the number of policemen in the state was inadequate considering the
number of people in the state.
He said at the time, “Eighteen million
people cannot be protected and policed by 33,000 people. This is
impossible. No matter how much we try to increase the number of
policemen, we cannot continue to do the same thing and expect a
different result.
“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.”
The project was to be funded by the
Lagos Security Trust Fund while the cameras were supposed to be managed
remotely through a central security command unit. Four years after this
announcement was made, the state has not had a taste of those promises.
Our correspondent contacted the state
Commissioner for Information, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, on why the cameras
have yet to be installed as the governor promised.
Ibirogba simply said the matter was out of the hands of the state government.
He said, “The problem with the issue of security cameras has nothing to do with the state government.
“When we were about to embark on their
installation, the Federal Government contacted us and said we needed to
stop. The reason we were given was that the FG had a scheme in the
pipeline, which involved the installation of security cameras all over
major cities in the country.
“According to the Federal Government,
Lagos was going to be in the first phase of the project. That was why we
stopped our own project.
“But we have since written a letter to
the Federal Government, asking it to tell us those locations where the
cameras will be installed so that when we begin to install ours, we
would not duplicate locations. That is where we currently stand.”
A state government official, who is also
familiar with the issue, said the Federal Government’s negative
attitude to it might be political.
“We all know the security cameras issue
may remain buried as far as the Federal Government is concerned. If you
think the Federal Government is overly concerned about Lagos, a state
that is not controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party, then you are
naïve,” the government source said.
Efforts to get the Presidency’s reaction
did not yield positive result on Thursday as the Special Adviser to the
President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, could not be
reached on his not pick the calls made to his telephone line.
PUNCH
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