Cross River State is approving and rolling out an AI-powered surveillance project aimed at improving public safety, emergency response, and climate resilience. The initiative is endorsed by the State Executive Council as part of the Cross River Resilience Agenda (2026–2030). Officials say the current analogue surveillance coverage is limited to parts of Calabar and does not extend adequately to other towns, prompting the move to a wider, technology-led monitoring system.
The project is presented by Dr. Bong Duke, Vice Chairman and CEO of the State Planning Commission. It is developed in partnership with Huawei Technologies and its local partner, Dubass Synergy Multi-Services Limited. The first phase will install AI-enabled smart cameras at strategic locations, including intersections, government facilities, coastal communities, waterways, the Ikang Expressway, Carnival routes, and other security “flashpoints.”
Installed cameras are intended to feed real-time data to a central command centre at the Office of the State Security Adviser. Reported capabilities include facial recognition, automatic number plate detection, alerts for violence and theft, and monitoring for fire and floods, as well as illegal waste dumping. The system is also described as integrating solar power, wireless transmission, and a unified analytics dashboard, with an expected reduction in emergency response times in Calabar and job creation for local technicians.
