The Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Innovation and Technology, Mr. Olatunbosun Alake has disclosed that the Lagos State Technology and Innovation Masterplan, an initiative of the present administration, has started to yield dividends in the transportation and traffic management, education, security and technology sectors of the State’s economy.
Speaking on the benefits of the Sanwo-Olu administration’s 3,000-kilometre Metro Fibre Optic Cable project, Alake said that the administration launched its Technology and Innovation Masterplan to drive technology for infrastructure development, improved capacity through the various Talent Hunt Programmes and enhanced data capability in Lagos State, pointing out that the benefits have started to accrue to residents.
His words: “We also have policies being implemented, such as Smart City Brain, which will drive such initiatives as intelligent transport systems. The smart city initiative has already started both in transport and security as we have installed about 150 out of the 2,000 smart cameras that monitor different areas for security purposes and are linked to our Command and Control Centre. These help first or emergency responders to be able to get to places of interest quickly and facilitate smart interaction with people on the field. This technology helps them to perform their jobs better.”
“There are multiple things we are pursuing with the smart city agenda. We have with the Ministry of Health such as electronic records. That is why we are very bullish with the deployment of the project”, the Special Adviser stated.
On the many dimensions of the project as guided by the T.H.E.M.E.S Agenda, Alake said that the metro fibre cables being laid across Lagos are significant to the drive for a Smart City and building a 21st Century economy with great benefits to the private sector.
He said, “You need to have a connectivity base layer. We are about 1,800 kilometres into the implementation and we are looking at next year for the completion of the current phase because we are not only deploying fibre, we are also deploying optic fibre ducts. We realise that to have double-digit growth in connectivity, the Government cannot do it alone.”
“We discovered that the cost of deployment is a significant barrier to entry and the rise in connectivity. By this effort, the Lagos State Government has de-risked and reduced the barrier to entry, telcos save more money in their deployment programmes and this saving is passed to their customers”, he explained.
In respect to the tour of tech hubs by Governor Sanwo-Olu, the Special Adviser said it was to intimate the stakeholders with what the government is doing to enhance and drive the ecosystem.
“Our technology and innovation masterplan puts young people and start-ups at the centre of our implementation. Our people are the key to our development; that is why our focus is to give the capacity, knowledge, funds and resources to grow the entire sector”, he declared.
