Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano will on Friday inaugurate super smart closed-circuit cameras (CCTVs) in three cities of the state. According to the governor,the CCTVs are to be installed in Awka, Nnewi and Onitsha, while it will be installed in other cities of the state later.
The government in a statement by the State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr. C.Don Adinuba, said the state is committed to using advanced technology to protect lives and property.
“The Government of Anambra state has decided to fight crime with the latest technology anywhere in the world,” he said. According to Adinuba, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu Abubakar, is expected to grace the commissioning of the Anambra State’s technology-driven security initiative, the Smart City project, known as the second phase of Operation Kpochapu (Operation Wipe Out Crime).
He said, “The Smart City Security Project was inspired by the governor’s visit to Massachusetts, United States, in October, 2018, when he toured places like the Cambridge Innovation Centre, Boston University and Industrial Video and Control in Boston. He was impressed among other things, the sophisticated surveillance cameras from Industrial Video and Control, developed in conjunction with researchers at the Cambridge Innovation Centre and other research centres in Massachusetts.
These products proved effective in helping the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to identify the two brothers from originally Kyrgyzstan, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, that on April 15, 2013, bombed participants in the annual Boston Marathon, killed three persons and injured many others, including 16 who lost their legs”.
According to him, the advanced surveillance cameras from Industrial Video and Control are not yet in some American cities and even states. “Governor Obiano felt that they should be installed in Anambra State so that it will remain Nigeria’s safest state and as a result attract considerable investments. To operate effectively for 24 hours daily, these gadgets require electricity which unfortunately is not always available in Nigeria.
The governor consequently opted for the solar-powered type,” he added. Adinuba further stated that 109 vehicles have been procured and equipped with state of the art electronic devices to work in unison with the super smart gadgets.
