Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Friday, January 23, 2009

Third world city?

Thanks to Imnakoya, who posted this at Grandiose Parlor for directing me to this article.

Nigeria: Lagos Safe City Project - 10,000 Surveillance Cameras to be Installed

"Lagos, the largest megacity in Sub- Saharan Africa, plans to install 10,000 solar-powered closed circuit cameras all over the metropolis, under the Lagos Safe City Project...

"Lagos, the financial hub of Nigeria has one of the highest crime rates in the world, lacks a reliable emergency response services and efficient crime control system.

"The Lagos Safe City Project -- funded by the private-public sector generated Lagos Security Trust Fund -- hopes to address some these problems, via a Central Security Command Unit, where the cameras will be managed remotely (wireless connection), and used to coordinate security, emergency responses, and traffic needs of the state.

"'This is only one step in the whole platform", according to the Lagos State Governor. He stated 'Lagosians must recall that the platform started with the signing and naming of streets, providing directional signs for responders to get to crisis center on time with the deployment of the emergency number, 767 which is toll free. With this initiative, we are determined to make a difference.'..."


See also: An online discussion about the closed circuit television (CCTV) system in Lagos


After I posted this, I realized that I broke one of my informal rules and used the term "third world." It's a cold war era term that is now used to describe poor, non-Western countries, often in negative ways. It just shows how easy it is to fall into bad old habits.

Does anyone have a suggestion about at good alternative (besides just saying that Lagos is a Nigerian city)?

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