The House of Representatives on Wednesday resolved to investigate the $460 million Chinese loan obtained by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2010 for the installation of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) — a project that was never completed.
The decision followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Amobi Ogah (Isuikwuato/Umunneochi, Abia State), titled “Need to investigate the rising insecurity and loss of lives in Abuja despite the $460m CCTV project.”
Ogah noted that the loan, secured from the China-EXIM Bank and part of a $600 million soft credit facility, was meant to finance a contract awarded to ZTE Communications of China after a 2010 MoU signed in Beijing by then-Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga. The loan had a 10-year grace period and a 10-year repayment plan, yet the project remains unexecuted.
He lamented that despite continued loan servicing, insecurity in Abuja has worsened, describing the situation as “a lose-lose nightmare” for Nigeria.
Other lawmakers, including Billy Osawaru (Edo) and Ahmad Jaha (Borno), backed the call for accountability. Jaha questioned the feasibility study and demanded to know how the funds were spent, given that “the CCTV cameras are nowhere to be found.”
It was recalled that in 2019, the 9th House queried the Finance Ministry over the uncompleted project, and in 2023, a Federal High Court ordered the government to disclose details of the loan’s expenditure following a suit by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).
Following Wednesday’s debate, the House resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the project’s status and report back for further legislative action.
