The coordinator also said that council representatives will carry out visits to enforce the directive.
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has said all public locations in the city must have Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in order to tighten security.
At a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja, Umar Shuaibu, coordinator of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), disclosed this information.
Shuaibu declared that in future, a need for the mandatory use of CCTV would be included in the building approval standards for the nation's capital.
The coordinator also said that council representatives will carry out visits to enforce the directive.
According to him, the use of CCTV cameras will prevent crime, Daily Independent reports.
He said, “We have made the announcement and we are making sure that we implement the decision to the letter. Our major decision now is to make sure and we are going to inform everybody within the city and the entire territory to ensure that all public places have CCTV.
“There must be CCTV in all public premises in the Federal Capital Territory from now and our officers will be going around to ensure the enforcement of this very important decision which is of national security.
“When all areas are well covered we believe we are going to monitor whatever activities in the city and if there is any crime that wants to create havoc, they are all going to be monitored by the cameras.”
Similarly, the coordinator emphasised the need for all public buildings to provide effective fire-fighting equipment in the territory.
“This one is there in the provision for the approval of building in Abuja. You must have it before you will be allowed to build in Abuja,” he said.
Also, the FCTA’s Director, Department of Development Control, Muktar Galadima, said, “We are all living witnesses to the issues of crime and criminality and as a responsible administration, we have to review our process and procedures.
“One way that we could curtail the issue of criminality is using the provision of Urban and Regional Planning Law for the Department of Development Control because this is part of global best practices.
“Part of our Development Control Guideline is that in your new submission, you must make provision for this facility (Close Circuit Television camera), so that nefarious activities could be detected, and where necessary action will be taken by relevant security agencies.”
Galadima explained that the affected public buildings include offices, commercial buildings, hospitals, schools and anywhere the public gathers and transacts business.
In October 2019, the House of Representatives queried the state of the $460m loan obtained from the China-EXIM bank for the failed CCTV project in Abuja.
The House Committee on Finance asked why the cameras were not functional years after Nigeria took a loan for the project.