The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, has announced plans to blanket Plateau State with Artificial Intelligence-powered surveillance cameras, starting with Jos, as part of a federal response to the recurring wave of violence in the region.
The announcement came hours after President Bola Tinubu visited Jos following the Palm Sunday attack that killed 28 people and left several others injured.
Tijani, who disclosed that Tinubu personally directed the camera deployment, said the technology would enable real-time crime detection and faster coordination among security agencies.
The minister’s commitment carried a personal dimension, as he recalled being a 24-year-old student at the University of Jos when the city erupted in sectarian bloodletting in 2001.
“Twenty-five years later, Jos, and indeed Plateau State, is still searching for lasting peace. This is not just a memory for me; it is a responsibility,” he wrote in a post on X on Thursday.
He added that securing a peaceful future for Jos ranked among the most important missions his ministry would ever undertake.
Tijani told a press briefing alongside state officials that the federal government was not making empty promises, pointing to existing AI camera networks already functioning in Lagos and Enugu as proof of concept.
“We will install a network of artificial intelligence-enabled cameras all over the state, starting with Jos. We already have similar solutions in states like Lagos and Enugu, and it works really well,” he said.
He pledged that his ministry would deepen the state’s core digital infrastructure in collaboration with the Plateau State Government, mobilising all available resources toward the project.
The minister described the persistent insecurity on the Plateau as personally heartbreaking, vowing that the trauma of his student years in Jos would fuel rather than diminish his determination to act.
