Lagos installs 1,200 security cameras, 27 live monitors

Written by  Lanre Adewole - Lagos

 

Lagos State government, on Monday, disclosed that it has 1,200 security cameras across the state with 27 live monitors.
A statement by Governor Babatunde Fashola’s spokesperson, Hakeem Bello, stated that it was a demonstration of government’s commitment to protecting life and property in the state.
The statement added that Fashola, who spoke at the demonstration how the cameras work with the live feed, at the Command Centre, promised that there would be more cameras to nip crime in the bud.
The governor explained that the demonstration is a follow up to what was started many years ago when a pilot scheme was located in Lekki in 2008 with one camera, saying it was a demonstration of the resolve of the government to do something about improving the capability of its personnel to carry out their duties as far as protection of life and property, its primary responsibility, is concerned.
“Now we have moved from a zero camera state to about 1,200 camera state. How significant that is, some numbers would show us. We are now in a position where we are now on one camera to about 10 sq kilometers. We are far behind other cities like New York and London, where they range between 200 and 450 cameras per Sq km. but we have moved from over 4000 Sq. kilometers and we have reduced that distance significantly.”
“How did we do it, we have merged our cameras with the ones that the Federal Government installed, so we have taken all the feeds in here. We have moved from one small screen that you saw in Lekki to 27 screens that are collapsible in all forms either to one big wall, three screens and so on”, he stressed.
Governor Fashola also explained that it is vital to focus attention on the fact that the Camera Control security centre is not a one event destination but a continuous and persistent implementation of many small solutions that has brought the state this far.
He added that it is a big web that started first with the Security Trust Fund which provided equipment, vehicles, stuffs and was followed by street signage because it was discovered that while the Police could move they could not identify streets.
“We followed that with house numbering, all of which are still work- in- progress and we realise that now that we could get Police to move, but how do we call them. We moved from an 11 digit number to three digit number, 767 or 112 because we did not think people in trauma will remember an 11 digit number easily and how quickly you can contact the Police or ambulance is the difference between what practitioners of disaster management call the golden hour.”
“You can see how things were layered over one another and for many years we were looking for a solution to this work because we knew this could be a solution. In terms of the call centre, which is downstairs, in the last few years, all of the operators, the ambulance, RRS or Police, and fire service have their offices in this building. When we started, they were all operating from one container”, the Governor said.
He reiterated that power would still be a critical component of the sustainability of the initiative because at the moment, the state is powering at least 66 base stations with diesels and that the costs could ordinarily have been saved and put to other uses especially because they are recurrent cost on daily basis.