Minister plans smart city summit to integrate Nigerian cities on ICT compliance
Relying on the observed success story of Rwanda which achieved unparalleled ICT transformation of its cities, the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu has set June 28 and 29 for smart cities summit in Abuja.
He said the summit was part of the Federal Government’s new drive to develop and integrate ICT and Internet of Things (IoT) in the country. The initiative aims at leveraging technology solutions to improve efficiency of cities.
Shittu disclosed this in an interview on the sideline of the Transform Africa Summit held in Kigali, Rwanda, an ICT conference focused on development of smart cities.
According to him, the plan was to replicate the unparalleled ICT transformation of Rwanda in Nigeria, said the “Smart Cities Nigeria 2017 Summit” was scheduled for June 28 and 29.
Analysts say a smart city is an urban development vision to integrate ICT and Internet of Things (IoT) technology in a secure fashion to manage a city’s assets
Details presented at the Kigali summit revealed that Rwanda which is spearheading the initiative has rolled out a number of developments such as WiFi in public areas, including public transport vehicles, as well as cashless payment systems in public transport.
Currently, the initiative is backed by 18 African countries while more nations including Nigeria are expected to join.
Giving more details on the emerging Smart Cities Summit, Shittu blamed government operations for lateness flagging off smart city scheme about eight months ago.
He said “In consonance with our desire to pursue all initiative in the ICT transformation including smart cities we have planned a summit”.
“The summit is with the theme `Smart Cities Nigeria 2017’ fixed for 28 and 29 of June, this year, is with a view to getting the buy in of stakeholders in the Nigeria projects.
“From that point we will kick off and there would not be any stoppage,” he said.
“To transform Nigeria using ICT we need the buy-in of all states that must get it right from the onset that ICT is the way to go.
“Of course we would demand the patriotic participation of all states,” he said.
