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Plateau State in central Nigeria is leveraging technology to halt the spread of COVID-19 as global figure tilts over 2.6 million infected persons and more than 165, 000 deaths.
There is no tested case yet of coronavirus in the state of more than four million people as Governor Simon Bako Lalong and his team deploy strategies to detect and curtail the disease. More than 200 countries are already affected. Over 10, 000 cities and towns are under lockdowns as governments and the World Health Organisation (WHO) battle the pandemic.
“We now officially have CCTV cameras displaying major borders in Plateau State. Next phase is building a robust process with the security handlers. What we have learnt from the video feed in the past couple of days is that lockdown is the best and surest way to enforce border closure.
“In the coming days we would conclude on a proper security process while looking at the borders from the situation room. The systems are solar powered and supported with night vision to enable 24/7 monitoring of the entry and exit points into the state,” said Director General of Plateau State Information and Communication Technology Development Agency (PICTDA), David Daser.
A CCTV (closed-circuit television) is a TV system in which signals are not publicly distributed but are monitored, primarily for surveillance and security purposes. CCTV relies on strategic placement of cameras, and observation of the camera’s input on monitors somewhere – in this case the Situation Room managed by the taskforce set up by the state governor. Feeds from the CCTV are relayed back in real-time to the monitors in the Situation Rom via the internet.
Governor Lalong personally leads a COVID-19 Monitoring and Enforcement Task Force as chairman. A restriction order has been in place for over a month now to monitor movement of persons and goods and ultimately flatten spread curve of the deadly virus.
The state is currently under a second phase of lockdown following a statewide fumigation exercise reeled out as part of the plans to fight the disease and quarantine the state.
“Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the government constituted a monitoring and enforcement task force under my Chairmanship. The Task Force has the following sub-committees: Awareness and advocacy; Medical Facility Management and Health Services; Enforcement; Border Management and Traffic; Secretariat and Logistics.
“A situation room was also created under the Secretariat and Logistics Committee to collate information and monitor activities of the various committees and the Local Governments. These five sub-committees were replicated in each of the 17 Local Government Areas with the Executive Chairmen heading the Central Committees,” said Governor Lalong to announce the first phase of the lockdown.
Plateau State now house a test lab for COVID-19 as the state enhances its readiness to tackle the disease and handle potential cases.
According to Commissioner of Information, Daniel Majang, entry and exit points at Riyom, Manchok, Jingir and Babale are already covered while CCTV cameras are also being installed in other borders across the state to allow health and security officials as well as other authorized stakeholders process the information as intelligence content to better enable the state fight the pandemic and other challenges including security.
