Champion Newspapers Limited
For a better society

UNILAG, Bionomics sign MoU on security architecture

117
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

CHINYERE IKEANYI

Bionomics Nigeria Limited, a technology company, has donated 1,000, Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras to the University of Lagos as part of its contributions to improved security architecture.

The company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the university on the project on Thursday in Lagos.

Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Oluwatoyin  Ogundipe,  signed on behalf of the institution, while Mr. Ugochukwu Onyedika, the Managing Director, signed on behalf of the company.

In his speech, the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Ogundipe, who described the partnership as laudable, said: “I am happy that today, part of the vision that God gave me concerning the University of Lagos to improve on its security architecture, is coming to reality”.

“Look at the marine side of the institution, we have newly-constructed marine police that is stationed there; this is now an addition to what we have here.

“Having about 1,000 cameras in the three campuses that we have, goes a long way,” he said.

Ogundipe expressed delight that Bionomics was collaborating with UNILAG, stating that It is going to be a win-win situation, a kind of symbiotic relationship, and UNILAG will be benefitting financially from it.

“It is not just bringing these CCTV cameras alone, we are also going to have adverts running on the poles, and we have agreed on what to do concerning that”, Ogundipe said.

According to him, students will also benefit from the projects, as there will be free Wi-Fi around the poles, which they can use to access lectures, adding that the CCTV cameras would cover students’ hostel and every other place on campus.

“On the main campus alone, we are going to have 700 of these CCTV cameras. At the Idi Araba and Yaba campuses (College of Medicine and Radiography), respectively, we are going to have 300. Everything will be connected to the main platform here”, Ogundipe said.

The VC, who s said he was skeptical about the project initially, thanked God for it to be real eventually, adding that “This one is happening for the first time in any Nigerian University. That is how far my knowledge can take me”.

According to him, the project is a mutual arrangement, and a symbiotic relationship between the University of Lagos and he bionomics.

For those of us who are from the University of Lagos part of the vision that God gave me was concerning the University of Lagos security architecture.

“If you look at the lagoon front of the University of Lagos we’ve been able to build another marine police station;  we pulled down the old one that was built in 1992. Also, we will hand over that building to the marine police officially very soon.

“Alright, It was founded by Techon. We used the support that we got to put up that building through the zonal intervention of Techon and we looked into the area of CCTV and we’re glad bionomics came.

“We have a lot of activities going on in the University of Lagos. We have the international week going on here and if you look at the assessment concerning that international week you’ll know that it’s of international standard by every standard.

“Once again, we give God all the glory and we appreciate Bionomics team for believing in us and if we are able to do this successfully, definitely the University of Lagos will be made University of the first choice and other universities will key into this”, Ogundipe stated.

Prof. Obinna Chukwu, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Management Services), commended the company for the gesture which, he said, is worth celebrating.

He said the technology would assist the university in crime prevention and forensic analysis.

“These are high definition cameras that will assist in face recognition, even if you have tribal marks. These cameras will also be deployed at the exit spots of the university that will capture all the plate numbers of vehicles coming in and going out of the university”, Prof. Chukwu added.

Delivering the CCTV cameras to UNILAG, the Bionomics Managing Director, Mr. Onyedika, said there was the need to step up efforts in tackling security challenges in the country through the deployment of technologies.

Onyedika said the objective of the project was to further strengthen the security architecture of UNILAG.

“We are delivering 1,000 CCTV cameras across the three campuses of this university..It is a very innovative model in the sense that the institution is not required to commit any funds.

“On the poles where we are going to be installing these cameras, we are also going to install digital advertising screens; that way, we are also going to deliver embedded revenue through advertising on campus.

“We have got thousands of students here as well as thousands of people that pass through this university every day, so that way, we can generate revenue and also deliver services to the institution,” he said.

He added that there would be a lot of analytics.

“We will keep information such as how many people come into the university, as well as show facial recognition.

“If you do something bad, the university can fish you out easily.

“For us, the university of Lagos provides the best springboard; we are going to extend this gesture to other schools because we believe that security in Nigeria must be revolutionized,  but we have to take it one step at a time,” he said.

The Bionomics Managing Director gave the assurance that the project would be flagged off by December.

For a better society

 

Comments are closed.