How Nigeria’s $470m police communication network fell into ruins after 2015

When Nigeria launched the National Public Security Communication System (NPSCS), it was billed as a transformational leap for policing and internal security.

Costing about $470 million, over N700 billion at the current exchange rate, the project was designed to give the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies secure digital communications, real-time surveillance, emergency response coordination and nationwide command-and-control capabilities.

More than a decade later, the once-celebrated network lies largely dormant, vandalised or obsolete, a reminder of how ambition, weak governance and institutional neglect can derail even the most critical national infrastructure.

The NPSCS was conceived in 2008 under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and awarded on August 4, 2010 to Chinese technology firm ZTE Corporation. It was funded through a counterpart arrangement in which Nigeria provided 15 per cent, about $70.5 million, while China’s Export-Import Bank supplied the remaining $399.5 million as a loan.

Executed by ZTE’s Nigerian subsidiary, the project was designed to deliver a digital trunked radio network for secure nationwide police communication, command and control centres in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, emergency call centres, tracking capabilities, video conferencing and thousands of solar-powered CCTV cameras in major cities.

On paper, it was one of the most ambitious internal security infrastructure projects in Nigeria’s history. Thousands of specialist cadet inspectors and assistant superintendents were reportedly recruited and trained to operate the facilities.

Initial rollout showed promise. Preliminary acceptance tests were conducted in December 2012, and parts of the system ran between January and June 2013. Some CCTV components were publicly commissioned in Abuja and Lagos amid official fanfare.

But even before the end of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, cracks had begun to show. Funding shortfalls affected diesel supply to base stations, integration was incomplete, and maintenance arrangements were fragile. By early 2014, the nationwide network had effectively been shut down, with only isolated components operating intermittently.

Tiamiyu Ahmed-Rufai, former NigComSat managing director, told a Senate hearing in 2016 that while the project had been completed, the video surveillance element accounted for less than eight percent of the entire system, countering the popular perception that NPSCS was merely a CCTV project.

What followed after the 2015 transition to president Muhammadu Buhari’s administration marked the steepest decline. Maintenance contracts with ZTE lapsed, funding for operations dried up, and no comprehensive plan was implemented to sustain or upgrade the infrastructure. By 2016, official and media reports described the system as incomplete, effectively mothballed and increasingly vandalised.

Inspections later revealed damaged masts, looted equipment, non-functional control rooms and abandoned facilities in Abuja, Lagos and other locations.

Analysts pointed to poor procurement practices, weak oversight and the treatment of the project as a one-off hardware acquisition rather than a living, evolving security platform.

In 2016, the Bureau of Public Procurement added to the controversy when its then director-general, Emeka Eze described the contract as illegal for allegedly bypassing due process.

Public frustration has grown alongside Nigeria’s worsening security crisis. Social media users have repeatedly cited the collapse of the NPSCS as a symbol of missed opportunities.

Journalist Steven Kefas wrote in December 2025 that the system built under Jonathan was deactivated and abandoned, a claim that resonated widely online.

Human rights activist Harrison Gwamnishu has lamented the absence of a central police data system, warning that criminals impersonating officers exploit the gaps.

Lawyer Ridwan Oke similarly highlighted the lack of a nationwide arrest database, which allows suspects to evade tracking across state lines.

Others have pushed back against more sensational claims. Researcher TallJohn argued that the project’s problems predated 2015, noting funding and operational challenges from the Yar’Adua and Jonathan years.

Commentators like Osi Suave and Akin Olaoye have also pointed to chronic underfunding and incomplete digital reporting systems as root causes.

In July 2023, the federal government acknowledged the scale of decay. Abel Olumuyiwa Enitan, the then permanent secretary of the Ministry of Police Affairs, inaugurated a Project Management Team to oversee the repair, upgrade and post-implementation management of the network.

The team draws members from the Ministries of Finance, Justice, Budget and National Planning, the Nigeria Police Force, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission.

Enitan noted that the system’s prolonged dormancy had led to vandalism and dilapidation, prompting the selection of MPS Technologies Limited as a concessionaire in compliance with regulatory guidelines. He explained that the loan repayment to China’s EXIM Bank commenced in August 2020, even as the infrastructure itself remained largely idle.

David Awotunde, former director of the Police Service Department, added the ministry was determined to bring all relevant agencies on board to ensure successful implementation and long-term management, describing the NPSCS as a key federal security project since 2010.

Writing on the issue, Princess Adebajo-Fraser, founder of civic group, The National Patriots, argued that while the project’s design was sound, it never matured into a consistently functional nationwide system. She pointed to weak maintenance, poor handover from contractors and early component failures as evidence that the collapse was gradual, not sudden.

This context challenges the claim that a fully operational system was deliberately switched off after 2015. “There is no public record of any formal directive ordering the shutdown of a functioning NPSCS. What can be established is a pattern of neglect, failure to fund maintenance, failure to upgrade and failure to prioritise the system as a core security asset,” she affirmed.

Security analysts also caution against reducing the failure to a single administration. Boko Haram reached its most territorially expansive phase under Jonathan, while banditry and mass kidnapping surged under Buhari. Both periods exposed deep structural weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture.

In November 2025, the House of Representatives reopened scrutiny of the project, launching a probe into the $460 million Abuja segment of the network. Lawmakers questioned whether the infrastructure was abandoned, sabotaged or mismanaged, urging cooperation from ministers and the Inspector-General of Police.

For many Nigerians, however, the unanswered questions remain practical, not political. Abandoned masts, dark CCTV poles and empty control rooms are still visible reminders that the country lacks a reliable, modern security communication backbone.

Adebajo-Fraser now call for an independent technical and financial audit of NPSCS assets, transparent accountability across administrations, and the design of a new, resilient digital system with ring-fenced funding and strict governance.

Until then, the collapse of Nigeria’s multi-billion-naira police communication network stands not as the failure of one government, but as a case study in how institutional decay, poor oversight and neglected maintenance can quietly undermine national security, with consequences measured not in dollars, but in lives. (BusinessDay)