The Eastern Regional Command Office of the National Signals Bureau (NSB) has been inaugurated in Koforidua, the regional capital, yesterday.
The modern facility, the first of its kind in the country, has a surveillance capacity to monitor CCTV feeds not only across the Eastern Region but also can access a network of over 10,000 cameras nationwide, creating a seamless web of vigilance and intelligence.
The facility is staffed with a well-trained team of surveillance personnel, network maintenance engineers and cybersecurity experts, among others.
The personnel are to ensure that the systems within the facility are not only operational but also secure from malicious actors or geared to fight crime.
One of four systems
The facility is one of four such systems to be commissioned in other regions this year.
The Eastern Regional National Signals Bureau Command Office
The Minister for the Interior, who is also responsible for National Security, Alhaji Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, who inaugurated the facility, stated that it was a follow-up of the Alpha Phase One Project initiated in 2014 during the first administration of President John Dramani Mahama, for a resilient and robust communications and surveillance infrastructure.
He said the system would be expanding its reach and capabilities to the regions, adding that it was the government’s unwavering commitment to investing in modern tools for security and intelligence agencies.
The minister explained that in today's world, criminals utilise digital tools, including mobile phones, the Internet and various applications and that signals intelligence from the facility could make it possible for the NSB to lawfully intercept, analyse and interpret such digital communications.
Track kidnappers
Alhaji Muntaka added that in that direction, the NSB could help security agencies to track the movement of kidnappers, dismantle networks of fraudsters, pre-empt armed robberies and disrupt the activities of trans-national criminal organisations.
He further indicated that the facility would play a critical role in supporting the 24-hour economy policy by ensuring a secure environment for round-the-clock business activities.
Apart from that, Alhaji Muntaka stated that the facility would strengthen coordination between security agencies by providing them with real-time actionable intelligence to improve emergency response and gather intelligence to identify and prevent threats before they materialise.
The system, the minister indicated, had the capacity to enhance surveillance of public places, including transportation routes and other critical locations to detect and deter potential threats.
Alhaji Muntaka further stressed that since national security is not a solo endeavour but a collaborative effort, the regional office of the NSB would collaborate closely with the Ghana Police Service, National Intelligence Bureau, Ghana Fire Service, Ghana Armed Forces and other security and intelligence agencies to combat crime.
Maintaining peace
He also said that the bureau would serve as a key resource for the Eastern Regional Security Council (REGSEC), by providing it with the data-driven insights needed to make informed decisions, deploy resources effectively and efficiently to achieve its core mandate of maintaining peace and security in all municipalities and districts of the region.
The Director-General of the National Signals Bureau, Dr George Atta-Boateng, said the core objective of the NSB was to safeguard the security of the country and that the Koforidua facility was to strengthen the surveillance system.
He indicated that the system would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and monitor security development in all parts of the region to effectively deal with crime.
Four regional offices
The National Security Coordinator, COP Osman Abdul-Razak, said the NSB had been a pivotal, although often unseen, guardian of the nation for years and operated from three regional offices only with staff representation across the country.
He said the Eastern Region facility is the first of the four new regional offices in the country of NSB to be inaugurated this year and that with its inauguration, the upsurge of attacks on security agencies and security facilities would be a thing of the past.
“The upsurge of attacks on security agencies and security facilities will end now because all those who think they can take the law into their hands to attack security personnel and facilities will not go unpunished,” he said.
"To the staff who will be working here, the responsibility is great, but the honour is greater.
We will hold you to your call to duty.
We just caution you about the public attacking you and attacking the security facilities, but we will hold you to discharge your duty with integrity so that you don't incur the distrust of the general public.
"To the people of Eastern Region, welcome this office as your safety and digital security are in capable hands; together we will secure our present and safeguard our future," COP Abdul-Razak stated.
Insecurity, threats
The Eastern Regional Minister, Rita Akosua Adjei Awatey, said that although the region had a unique geographical position and socio-economic diversity, which contributed immensely to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) due to its cosmopolitan nature, it had been prone to insecurity and threats.
Some of such threats, she indicated, were incessant illegal mining activities with their attendant environmental degradation, armed robbery and illicit use of drugs and substance abuse that continued to threaten the region's security.
Mrs Awatey said as chairperson of REGSEC, she would support and collaborate in the maintenance of public safety, peace and security in the region.
Writer's email: haruna.wunpini@graphic.com.gh
