By 
Nigeria is deploying advanced surveillance technology including drones in the southeastern part of the country consisting of Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu states to checkmate rising insecurity.
According to Imo state governor, Hope Uzodimma, President Muhammadu Buhari has given his approval for military and police authorities to use surveillance and advanced attack technologies to keep the areas safe from increasing incidences of violence.
RELATED: Nigerians to pay more for telecoms services as operators lament diesel scarcity, insecurity
He spoke to the media this week in Abuja after a meeting with President Buhari,
His words: “We have planned an advanced security control in the Southeast and he has also given his approval to that.
“In a moment from now, we will be getting some surveillance equipment and some modern technologies that will help us manage security so that we can fight crime with little or no collateral damage to the environment.”
Expressing optimism that 2023 will be the beginning of peace in the east even as fears rise over the national elections next month, Uzodimma said the president and other stakeholders are working through s mix of processes including direct engagement of community leaders to restore order in the five eastern states.
He said the advanced surveillance equipment will be deployed across the entire five states to improve the capacity of the authorities to tame insecurity with minimal collateral damage.
Sources told IT Edge News part of the arsenals to be deployed include surveillance cameras, satellite imagery, RFID and Geo-location devices, guided social network analysis and profiling as well as biometric surveillance of key actors in the areas.
Part of the resources will be coming from the Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited and National Space Research Development Agency (NASRDA).
Like many other parts of the country, the southeast of Nigeria is contending with a surge in banditry, armed robbery, kidnapping for ransom and extrajudicial killings, among other violent conflicts.
