National CCTV project almost ready according to minister

Minister of Police Affairs, Capt. Caleb Olubolade (retd.), has said the National Public Security Communication Systems, under which 2000 close circuit television cameras were installed in Abuja and Lagos, is nearing completion. Olubolade said as of December 31, 2012, the project had achieved 99 per cent completion rate. He added that 98 personnel and officials drawn from relevant security stakeholders had been trained in China to develop indigenous capacities to operate and manage the system. The project is being handled by ZTE Corporation of China for national security operations. When completed,the NPSCS, code-named Global Open Trunking Architecture, will support 1,500,000 subscriber lines and operate through two main switch centres in Abuja and Lagos, 12 base station controllers and 675 base transmitting station sites that will provide the Internet Protocol Cloud for the various applications to which the project is applied. The minister said these at the ongoing 2013 ministerial platform in Abuja on Tuesday. According to him, the NPSCS as an integrated digital trunking independent multimedia communication system with voice, video and data, employing Code Division Multiple Access technology, would be used by the police and other security agencies to check the security challenges in the country. Olubolade explained that the video conferencing subsystem of the project would provide video conferencing by all commands of the police, with the Force Headquarters. He added that coalition emergency response subsystem would empower emergency response and provide a national platform for emergency calls by citizens to the police nationwide. "Under this system, six mobile emergency communication vehicles will also be deployed and video surveillance subsystem through which 2000 CCTV cameras are to be installed in Abuja and Lagos is the easily noticed component; The execution of the NPSCS project as at December 31,2012 has achieved 99 per cent completion and it will soon be commissioned by President Goodluck Jonathan," he said. Olubolade said police had built capacity to curb terrorism in the country with the establishment of Anti-Terrorism Squad with bases in 12 locations across the country and the creation of a Counter-Terrorism Strike Force unit as well as a Counter-Terrorism Intelligence and Investigation unit. The minister explained that his ministry had initiated a collaboration with the CTU of the Metropolitan Police, New Scotland Yard, London, as part of strategies to check terrorism in the country.