The Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, has approved a ₦1.1 billion contract for the emergency procurement of communication gadgets and other critical equipment for security agencies operating in Abuja, in a decisive move to address a technology deficit that has long undermined effective policing in the nation’s capital.
The Director of Procurement of the FCTA, Mr. Musa Onsachi, disclosed this on Monday at the close of an Executive Committee meeting presided over by the FCT Minister, Mr. Nyesom Wike.
According to Onsachi, the approved contract is aimed at equipping security agencies with the tools they need to operate efficiently and respond to threats in real time.
“When the Minister assumed office in August 2023, he discovered the gap in critical communications gadgets and equipment needed to carry out efficient and effective security operations,” he said. “Now, with this support, the security agencies will be able to carry out security operations more effectively.”
Onsachi further noted that the procurement would bridge a glaring equipment gap that has long undermined the efficiency of agencies deployed to maintain law and order across the FCT’s six area councils and urban districts.
The equipment deficit is not a new discovery. Shortly after assuming office in 2023, Wike publicly lamented that the FCT commands of the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services did not possess even the most basic tracking devices to pursue and apprehend criminals. Officers, the minister revealed, were forced to travel to their national headquarters to borrow equipment before embarking on operations — a logistical dysfunction that cost precious response time and lives.
Also Read: FCT minister seeks dialogue with striking workers
“You cannot believe that the Police Command of the FCT do not even have ordinary tracking devices,” Wike said at the time. “Not only them, even the FCT Command of the Department of State Services do not have. And the only one they have is at the headquarters.”
The minister said he raised the matter directly with President Bola Tinubu, who in January 2024 approved emergency procurement of digital tracking devices and operational vehicles for FCT security agencies. That intervention, while significant, still left critical communications infrastructure gaps unfilled — gaps that Monday’s ₦1.1 billion EXCO approval is now designed to close.
FCT’s Deepening Security Crisis
The urgency behind the latest procurement is underscored by sobering crime statistics. According to the FCT Police Commissioner, Mr. Olatunji Disu, the territory recorded 104 kidnapping cases, 268 armed robbery incidents, and 263 “one-chance” robbery attacks in 2024 alone. While Disu acknowledged a 15.1 per cent overall reduction in crime between 2023 and 2024, analysts say the figures still reflect an uncomfortable reality for residents of what is supposed to be Nigeria’s most secure city. ICIR Nigeria
Beyond the statistics, residents have endured a climate of persistent fear. A report by Daily Trust documented that over 179 FCT residents were affected by violent crimes, with losses estimated at over ₦217 million within a 20-month period. Satellite towns and rural area councils — particularly Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje, and Kwali — have remained most vulnerable to banditry and kidnapping, in large part due to difficult terrain, forest cover, and porous boundaries with neighbouring states. Daily Trust
The “one-chance” robbery phenomenon — where armed criminals prey on unsuspecting commuters inside commercial vehicles — has become one of Abuja’s most feared street crimes, claiming victims across major routes in the city.
The Wike administration has responded through a series of incremental security investments. In July 2024, the minister presented 50 operational vehicles fitted with communication gadgets to various security agencies in the FCT, describing the gesture as essential logistical support to enable agencies to combat crime more proactively. Premium Times
Additionally, the FCTA re-launched Operation Sweep, joint security task force drawing personnel from the Police, DSS, Army, and other agencies, with a mandate to conduct targeted operations in high-risk areas. In the first EXCO meeting of 2025, the administration also approved ₦3.648 billion for the construction of police divisional headquarters and officers’ quarters in Kuje, Gwagwalada, and Kwali area councils — completing a wider programme of security infrastructure expansion across the territory. Independent Nigeria
Monday’s ₦1.1 billion approval for communication gadgets represents the latest layer of what is shaping up as a broader, multi-pronged security architecture — one that combines physical infrastructure, logistics, surveillance technology, and joint operational frameworks.
NAN
