Policing Nigeria Adequately with Information Technology

Edirin Jerry Wesley

Information and communications technology has become indispensable to our modern life, we critically depend on information and communications infrastructure in planning our personal lives, our societies, business activities and running critical infrastructures.
This is the simple reason why governments of the world are embracing the concept of “Smart Technology” especially in the management of energy, water, transportation, waste, surveillance, modern security threats etc.

‘Smart cities’ have moved from being just a buzzword, to reality, the evolution began at the turn of the last century and it has got to its next stage. As more governments begin to adopt “smart” concepts, some find it challenging to keep pace with the rapid changes the digital world bring with it, along with the consequent evolution of their service delivery models.

Early warning prognosis and detection of breaches are the things that will determine if an entity is in a state of readiness, meaning that the emphasis of cyber security has improved to encapsulate Threat Intelligence. A state of readiness to deal with cyber-attacks requires behaviors that are thoughtful, considered and collaborative. No organization or government can ever predict or prevent all (or even most) attacks; but can reduce its attractiveness as a target, increase their resilience and limit damage from any given attack.
Public security is a growing concern for big cities worldwide. Tailored apps can provide police and emergency services with new technologies to fight crime and make cities safer.

There exists a solid infrastructure of closed-circuit TV (CCTV) in most cities across the globe, comprising public and private-owned systems. Historically, these have been used retrospectively to examine crime scenes for evidence. But cities such as the ones found in Nigeria are lagging behind in piloting programs to apply predictive analytics to video feeds. Public safety and security are top priorities for Nigeria at this time in our national lives.

Video analytics is the capability of automatically analyzing videos to detect certain objects, behavior, spatial and temporal events. This is used in a wide range of domains, including entertainment, health care, surveillance, home automation etc. These Video Analytics tools can be used with a wide range of modules for various purposes and can work as a proactive monitoring tool, triggering alarms to signal immediate attention of concerned teams.

With smart devices aligned to private broadband network, officers can pick up a live feed of a shop theft from CCTV, say, before they even arrive at the scene, or of criminals in flight from cameras fixed to patrol cars or drones in the vicinity. In practice, it means Police Agencies can have ‘eyes’ where they didn’t before. It also means Police can store and organize surveillance data in the cloud, access, share and query it with greater ease and accuracy.

Sophisticated analytics tools improve their ability to identify, classify and match stored videos.
An intelligent video analysis platform can be established to manage video resources and meet a variety of service needs, including real-time surveillance, video browsing, data sharing and evidence collection. The new system has boosted Police collaboration, coordination, and decision-making thereby improving response times.

This part is relatively easy, IGP Ibrahim K. Idris is a progressive to the core and also a lover of technological innovations, owing largely to the fact that he was Nigeria’s representative at the INTERPOL’s headquarters in Paris for several years and so, has been exposed to policing at the highest level in the world. It was no surprise when Mr. Edirin Jerry Wesley, a renowned businessman of international repute, who did not take flight and run from the country when it was faced with security challenges at the onslaught of Boko Haram, decided to join up with the Nigerian Police to tackle the menace of insecurity in Nigeria.

At the heart of this innovative project is the National Emergency Communication Command Control Centre (NEC4 System) which is going to be situated at the National Information Centre in Abuja, concurrently too, all the 36 states of the Federation will be hosts to similar Emergency Communication platforms as mentioned above.

The Nigerian Police Department’s patrol cars, helicopters and other devices will be equipped with computers and software which will allow Police officers to view calls for service and access geo-mapping technology at the same time too.

The Nigerian Police Department can implement a new service for citizens to file non-emergency police reports online. This initiative is proven to reduce call volume for Police Department’s personnel which allows for additional directed patrol.

Computer Aided Dispatch is the backbone of most Police Departments’ Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) and helps the agency improve situational awareness and reduce response times. Police CAD provides real-time access to information. All data entered into CAD can be accessed and shared between mobile, reduce repetitive data entry and streamline operations.

Data mining is also used to prevent crime and manage police operations, “smart cities” are using statistical analysis and predictive modelling to identify crime trends and highlight “hidden” connections between disparate events and trends. This helps Police gain a more complete picture of crime, predict patterns of future criminal behavior and identify the key causal factors of crime in their area.
The unbridled privilege of this great insight on the part of the Nigerian Police cannot be overemphasized. In fact, the current IGP Ibrahim Idris, due to his exposure, has an unwavering belief that ICT and smart technology has a gargantuan role to play in effective policing of any country, especially, his beloved country, Nigeria. To further bolster this claim, NPBS, has been conceptualized as far back as 2012 but never saw the light of day, after three successive failed attempts, largely set back by erstwhile leadership of the Nigerian Police, it didn’t take the pragmatic and creatively-inclined IGP Ibrahim Idris long to embrace this project and give it a nod.

The uniqueness of the project NPBS brings will allow the different media to be tweaked on-the-go, what this means on one hand is that the NPBS via its TV, Radio, website and social media platforms will afford the Nigerian Police the means to tell its own story by itself, generally speaking, mass media has not been fair in its news coverage and has mostly shared sometimes exaggerated news concerning the Nigerian Police’s officers and their activities, on the other hand; members of the public will be able to use the various platforms to report past and ongoing crimes, incidences, anonymously blow whistles of unscrupulous citizens.

With the partnership of giant Security Intelligence outfit; Skytick Technology Global Limited and global technological brands, NPBS is set on the right path of effective communication and will immensely impact on land, waterways and border security in ways we can start drooling about.
Across national security agencies such as the Police, Army, Navy, Airforce, Civil Defense, Customs and Immigration, security-related information can be shared at a whim, the application of this multi-faceted project is mind-boggling.

Take as an example, according to the media, an eyewitness report claims that on January 2nd 2018, a herd of Fulani men shot at residents of Akor village in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, killing over twenty persons in the wake of the attack, whereas the intelligence reports made available to the Nigerian Police says contrary, IGP Ibrahim Idris in an interview said it was purely a communal clash and will deploy Police officers to douse the tension there, so therefore, wrong information in public purview can spark unnecessary unrest and malevolent destruction of lives and properties.

INEC’s job will be made efficiently easy and reduce the number of petitions to be attended to because electoral malpractices can be captured via handheld mobile devices and uploaded or streamed immediately online via NPBS’ media infrastructure. Ekiti State’s gubernatorial elections are just around the corner, it is going to be another test of resolve in our daily lives, a test to see if we are resolute about having a free and fair elections, a test to see if we going to let thugs have a field day as usual.

How about the impunity with which some employers withhold certain amount of money from staff salaries without remitting same into the coffers of government, all in the name of ‘tax’, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) certainly has a thing or two to say about stuffs like this. Countries that are doing well as regards its revenue and GDP have a tight taxation policy and adherence is vitally knitted to its success.

As far as the topic of revenue generation is concerned, the NNPC, NLNG and other oil production companies have been badly hit in recent years, pipeline vandals are getting richer every day and their opulence is at the expense of the Nigerian populace whose major source of revenue is its crude oil. NPBS is poised with different hi-tech products at its disposal to make Arepo in Ogun State unbearable for its notorious pipeline vandals, the creeks will no longer be a safe haven for these enemies of the nation.

The NNPC and other oil production companies will no longer have to count their losses and just ‘move on’. That era will soon belong to the past. On a more compact scale, as it affects us as individuals in this nation, fuel scarcity coupled with its attendant hardship caused by hoodlums and unscrupulous elements who hoard petroleum products, the places where they hide these stash of products are not seriously hidden and the public simply needs to be sensitized about who to report its sightings to. See something, Say Something!
The bloody clashes in Benue state may have been forefended if the public had been sensitized on how and who to call when cattle and herdsmen are sighted in territories not marked for grazing. Everyone knows that these herdsmen have access to radio sets at least, they will learn about the anti-grazing laws that exists in certain parts of Nigeria and would learn about the designated lands marked for grazing by the Federal Government. Benue state has been the food basket of Nigeria for a long time and radical cattle grazing will only render its citizens (mainly farmers) jobless and highly sullen. See Something, Say Something!

The Fire Fighting agency unknown to many, is under the purview of the Nigerian Police and bush burning in this dry season is a source of concern for many, a lot of lives and properties have been lost in the wasteful inferno that has been a resultant effect of indiscriminate burning of bushes for game or other twisted reasons. See Something, Say Something!

As the NPBS has a whole package of crime reportage and emergency response such as the NPBS Television, NPBS Radio, NPBS Online, including the Emergency Command and Control Communication Center and the maiden Nigeria Police Communication outfit that would be replicated across the length and breadth of Nigeria, the adoption of the Smart Technology will enhance the effectiveness of reporting and tackling crime in whatever form and from the 36 States of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

A wise man I know once said “great economies and great nations, prosperity and abundance of nations and communities are created by men and not spirits. No matter how much you pray or fast, our country cannot grow without some of us deciding to do the hard work that make nations grow.”

Hence, all hands must literarily be on deck to see to the immediate take off of this laudable project.

– Wesley, Chairman, Nigeria Police Broadcasting Service, wrote from Lagos