The House of Representatives has resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the government’s investment of $460 million in CCTV camera installation in strategic areas in Abuja.

The resolution was sequel to the adoption of a motion by Amobi Ogah (LP-Abia) at plenary on Wednesday.

Moving the motion, Mr Ogah explained that the most important of all responsibilities of government is the protection of lives and property as well as the entrenchment of security to engender good governance.

He recalled that former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration embarked on the CCTV camera installation around strategic areas to monitor unwholesome activities with a view to checking crime, placing surveillance on criminals and apprehending them.

The lawmaker recalled that the former finance minister, Olusegun Aganga, led a delegation to Beijing in 2010 to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ZTE Communications of China for the installation of the CCTV.

According to him, the funds for the contract were secured through a $460 million loan obtained from the China-EXIM Bank and lifted from a $600 million financing portfolio secured as a soft credit loan, with interest repayable in 10 years, after an initial 10 years of grace.

He stated, “More concerned that in spite of this huge investment as well as the financial burden Nigeria is subjected to by way of servicing the loan, the impact of the CCTV is not felt in any manner. Rather than abating, the crime rate has soared in Abuja, leading to daily reports of deaths arising from unmonitored crimes around the Federal Capital.

“Worried that the current situation whereby Nigeria is paying heavily for this loan obtained from a Chinese bank to execute the non-functional CCTV contract undertaken curiously, also by a Chinese firm and contractor, leaves the country in a lose-lose nightmare,” he said.

In his ruling, the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, mandated further legislative actions on the probe. 

(NAN)