The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has decried how the failed $470 billion (N76 billion) National Public Security Communications System Project in Abuja, otherwise known as the CCTV Camera Project, which was supposed to help Nigeria shore up her security has remained shrouded in mystery, wastage and embezzlement of scare national resources.
The APCPCO Director of Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in a statement in Abuja on Sunday lamented the shoddy and inadequate delivery on the project, which was designed to cover Abuja, Lagos, Ibadan, Bayelsa, Kaduna and Kano in its pilot phase.
The APC Campaign queried the sincerity of the Nigerian Government in its battle against insecurity and corruption, when it could not deliver on a project that was supposed to use technology, which President Jonathan lately has a passion for, to make our cities safer like is the practise in other countries.
The statement said: “It is heartbreaking that in an era that we are confronted by huge security challenges, especially as it relates to the insurgency, the Jonathan administration has failed woefully to deliver on the safe cities’ project after billions of our scarce resources have been spent, wasted or stolen on these phantom projects that have not added any value to the nation’s security asset.”
Shehu said it is bewildering that the Peoples Democratic Party-led government has failed to report on the status of Abuja CCTV Camera Project even after the House of Representatives ordered probe and countless petitions to the anti-graft agency.
The statement said: “The PDP-led government owes Nigerians an explanation on the status of this project. This project must not go the way of several others, as it is too central to our security architecture to let some greedy persons to undermine it.
“The questions agitating our minds are who are these greedy persons and what happened to the project? The Federal Government, the FCT Administration, the Nigerian Police Force and the Chinese Company that was awarded the contract have been trading blames but Nigerians need to be assured that the money deployed for this project has not vanished into individual pockets.”