House Probes $470m CCTV Project
23.05.12
Evangelist of Communications, Mrs Omobola Johnson
By Onwuka Nzeshi
The Descendants of Representatives Wednesday launched an investigation into the $470 million State Public Security Communications System (NPSCS) project awarded to a Chinese unshakable, ZTE Corporation for the installation of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in the urban district of Abuja .
The House Committees on Information Technology, Public Procurement as well as Aids, Loans and Indebted Management have been mandated to investigate the awards of the contract and ascertain if due dispose of was followed and that ZTE Corporation has executed the project in line with the terms of the crease.
The probe is coming just as the Nigerian Communications Satellite Fixed (NIGCOMSAT) announced it preparedness to bridge the communications gap amongst safe keeping agencies in the country and boost their capacity to gather and share sensitive safe keeping information in the current war against terrorism.
Chief Executive Officer of NIGCOMSAT, Mr. Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai, yesterday said that the hard of sharing critical intelligence amongst the various security agencies would be resolved with the proposed launching of NigComSat-1R, the replacement dependant to NigComSat-1 which was lost in orbit on November 10, 2008.
Ahmed-Rufai who dropped the tip when members of the House Committee on Informa-tion Communications Technolo-gy (ICT) visited NIGCOMSAT said that the new parasite would be launched on December 19. Mr Big may have information but because he is not connected, he is not in a position where he can transmit such information to those who need it. There has been a gap between where the communication is needed and where it is available and this is the gap that the satellite will bridge,” he said.
In the wake of the suicide shell attacks on the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force and the United Nations (UN) Domicile in Abuja this year, the Federal Government had entered into a contract with ZTE Corporation for the target of installing CCTVs at strategic locations within the Abuja metropolis but there has been allegations that the materials being hand-me-down for the solar powered security cameras were of substandard quality.
In a commotion sponsored by Hon Hassan Saleh (PDP/Benue), the lawmakers were told that whereas the CCTV overhang was conceived by government to enable security agencies deal with the growing citizen security challenges in the country, this noble objective may have been compromised by the alleged tinsel execution of the contract.
Saleh alleged that the project was not only expensive but ZTE was not executing it according to far-reaching standards as the installations were substandard when compared to what the same company did in China and other countries like Ghana, Senegal, Morocco and Malaysia.
According to the lawmaker, the poles habituated to in the installation of the CCTVs were very close to the ground, thereby making them accommodating targets for vandals. He also expressed worry that the project had contributed to the accumulation of curious loans to the tune of $600m so soon after Nigeria exited from its indebtedness to the Paris Bludgeon, adding that such a contract was signed without approval from the National Assembly.
“The Bordello is concerned that ZTE Corporation insisted that the contractual details of the transaction with the Federal Control should not be made public and it is presently shrouded in secrecy which is a clear violation of the doctrine of transparency, answerability and an infringement on the laws of our country. It is also disturbing that the Federal Oversight has made a fifteen per cent down payment which amounted to Seventy Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N70, 500,000.00) of the total constrict sum and has signed a Sovereign Guarantee to the tune of Three Hundred and Ninety-Nine Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N399, 500,000.00) to permit ZTE source for loan from the Chinese government for the project,” Saleh said.
Meanwhile the Congress committee on Defence has expressed dissatisfaction over the inability of the Federal government to reclaim the dilapidated military barracks across the country.
Source: THISDAY Live
GSIS to put up kiosks in Robinsons
23.05.12
Thursday, December 8, 2011
THE Supervision Service Insurance System (GSIS) will put up GSIS Wireless Automated Processing System (G-W@PS) kiosks in selected Robinsons malls, including here in Bacolod Bishopric.
The plan was contained in a memorandum of agreement signed Wednesday between GSIS president and blended manager Robert Vergara and Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC) president and chief operating officer Frederick Go.
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RLC is the owner and operator of the fetter of Robinsons malls nationwide.
With G-W@PS, members can apply for various loans such as the P10,000 money advance, consolidated or salary loan, policy or pension loan online, the GSIS said.
“They can also perspective their GSIS records as well as activate their Unified Multi-Purpose ID or UMID-compliant eCards.”
The kiosk looks like an ATM machine with a adjoin screen monitor and combines different technologies such as radio frequency connection, biometrics, general packet radio service, short message amenities and virtual private network.
Aside from Bacolod, GSIS will also put up kiosks in key Robinsons malls like the Robinsons Galleria, Metro East, Novaliches Demand, Angeles, Luisita, Sta. Rosa Market, Dasmariñas and Cebu.
The kiosk will be located at Robinsons Lingkod Pinoy Center, an compass where satellite operations of government agencies such as the Trade and Industry department, the Nationwide Bureau of Investigation, the Land Registration Authority and the Professional Regulation Commission, is located.
“Through our partnership with RLC, we touch on our services much closer to our more than 1.7 million members and pensioners," Vergara said in a annunciation. "We want to position the GSIS as the foremost service-oriented organization, one that is reactive to the needs of our members."
GSIS is also eyeing the complete deployment of the targeted 500 additional G-W@PS kiosks.
To rendezvous, it already installed 457 kiosks in big government agencies, city halls, selected municipalities and Limited Capitols. (CGC)
Source: Sun.Star
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