REVEALED: How Nigeria Was Short-Changed in $470 Million CCTV Deal

A House of Representatives Adhoc Committee has disclosed that the country was short-changed in the execution of the $470 million contract for the installation of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in Abuja and Lagos.

The contract was awarded to the ZTE Corporation of China by the immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The revelation is coming ahead of a public hearing organised by the committee investigating the projects slated for today, with the panel disclosing that the naira equivalent of the money paid to the contractor was “over a trillion naira,” and calling for public support for a hitch-free investigation.

The committee chairman Hon. Ahmed Yerima, in a press statement issued yesterday, recalled how the 7th House of Reps conducted a similar probe in the past, but that “powerful forces” did not allow the report to see the light of day.

ZTE Corporation was said to have abandoned the projects after collecting an upfront payment of $100m, explaining that the amount collected represents about 20 per cent of this year’s N6.08trn budget of the country.

The committee added that the non-completion of the projects has also hampered the capacity of security agencies to gather intelligence on the activities of criminal elements in the country.