Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, keeping to his promise to improve the security and safety of lives and property of the residents, on Thursday 18th June 2020, recommissioned the expanded Security Control Room and City Watch facilities at the Oyo State Security Trust Fund Headquarters, Onireke, Jericho, Ibadan.
The Governor while at the ceremony of the City Watch facilities in Ibadan, reiterated that his the commitment of his administration to making Oyo State safe and secure for all within its borders.
“For those familiar with my statements during my campaign trail, you will recall that I was going to scrap this entire architecture because the it was like a white elephant project. But I was convinced to give it another shot and today we have been rewarded with a functional centre,” he said.
“The entire system has been reconfigured so that we no longer need to pay internet access fees of N3.5million/month. Also, we have acquired the license for the software for life so no longer need to run the trial version we met. These City Watch facilities now wholly belong to Oyo State” the Governor added.
The governor also stated the importance of the City Watch facilities both to the state, and security agencies within the state. He is to help in security as well as traffic management.
“We have also expanded the facilities so that the security operatives, including the police and civil defence, can work from there. At the moment, the cameras in eight locations are working.
These include the Lagos-Ibadan Express Road and the Asejire axis. With this system, we can easily monitor human and vehicular traffic and even capture number plates of vehicles”.
“Also, a crime alert platform has been built into the Oyo State website. Everyone can log into the website, free of charge, and once they complete the process, with just a press of the button they can alert operatives of robbery, kidnapping or any other crime and their location and visuals will show up on the system.
Additionally, we have set up a Governor’s Monitoring Unit and a Crime Alert Unit. Vehicles are also positioned at the Security Trust Fund Headquarters so that the operatives can respond in real-time to any crime reports,” he added.