In a bid to tackle the growing insecurity challenges in the country, the federal government has concluded plans to resuscitate the abandoned $470million national public security communication system.
Already, technicians are currently inspecting the vandalised Abuja and Lagos closed-circuit television cameras for repairs and are expected to present a report on their assessment soon.
The federal government noted yesterday that security forces were already deploying technology such as CCTV, drones and other security gadgets to track down criminals, just as it said the nationwide CCTV project was being reactivated to further enhance the efficiency of the security agencies.
Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Dingyadi, disclosed this during a briefing on his stewardship in his one year in office and to mark the one-year anniversary of the reestablishment of the ministry.
The contract for the CCTV project was awarded in 2010 to a Chinese firm , ZTE Nigeria Ltd, to provide audio, video and data information for use by the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies.
The contract which provides for installation of five components, including the video surveillance system as well as comprehensive, reliable, and robust public security communication technology, was abandoned in 2011, just as the installations were vandalised.
Dingyadi also said community policing was driven by the need to take policing closer to communities.
He stated: “The idea is to improve on existing police/community partnership to guarantee community ownership of policing efforts, for better intelligence gathering, insulate manpower gaps, resolve communal clashes in affected areas and build goodwill trust and confidence for sound policing.
“State and local government implementation committees have been set up in all the states of the federation, while recruitment of constabularies in local government is in progress”.
The minister further stated that in the past year, the ministry had recorded a lot of successes in efforts to match the increasing crime rate across the country with actions to drastically reduce the problem.
Also speaking, the Inspector-general of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, gave an insight into how the N13billion approved by the federal government for the implementation of the community policing programme would be spent.
Adamu said the money would be used to organize town hall meetings for sensitization, trainings for the community police officers, as well as the purchase of equipment required for the initiative, among others.
The IGP who said they had already gone far in the implementation of the community policing initiative explained that at the moment, they were in the process of recruiting community police officers.
Adamu issued a stern warning to vigilante and neighborhood watch groups across the country against the possession of arms.
He said, “If you are caught with an illegal weapon you will be prosecuted and you will go to jail. For the benefit of doubt, anybody seen with any prohibited firearms will be arrested and prosecuted.
“Even if you are a recognised vigilante group called by any name that is given to you by the state government that created you as a vigilante group or neighbourhood watch created to help law enforcement agencies in fighting crime, if you carry firearms that you are not licensed, you will be prosecuted and you will go to jail.”
On how community policing would work, he said, “Community policing is a strategy. It is not a new police structure that is being created but within the police we restrategize and then bring in community based initiatives.
“The idea and what we are implementing is that the community should take responsibility for policing. The implementation has gone far. So far we have inaugurated state community policing advisory committees in all the states. And that advisory committee comprises the community leaders, representatives of faith-based organizations, representatives of market women, representatives of National Union of Transport Workers, students etc.
“At the local government level we also have the same strategy represented by the same group of community leaders. At the local government level again we have community policing committee which will have the same people from the wards and villages. This committee is the one that would help us identify within the wards and the villages their own citizens and natives who are able bodied.
“We would select them and train them as community policing officers and send them back to their communities where they come from. We have reached this stage already. Now we are at the stage of recruitment.”
