FG, private investors plan multi-billion naira Smart City

The Federal Government has announced plan to partner with the private investors to build a multibillion naira Smart City at Lekki Free Zone in Lagos. A Smart City is a city where digital technologies are used to enhance quality and performance of urban services, to reduce costs and resource consumption and to engage more effectively […]

The Federal Government has announced plan to partner with the private investors to build a multibillion naira Smart City at Lekki Free Zone in Lagos.
A Smart City is a city where digital technologies are used to enhance quality and performance of urban services, to reduce costs and resource consumption and to engage more effectively and actively with the citizens.
Disclosing the country’s Smart City plan during the Nigeria Day at GITEX event in Dubai, the Ministry of Communications Technology’s Permanent Secretary Dr Tunji Olaopa said the foundation laying for the massive project would take place in the first quarter of 2016 and the city would be ready for commissioning in 2020.   The Permanent  Sec -retary who was represented by the Director General of National Information Technology Agency, Mr Peter Jack, said would take five years to complete and would house a big innovation centre,  a replicate of US Silicon Villa.
“In Lagos, we have a flagship investment, in partnership with the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Information Technology Industry Association of Nigeria ( ITAN) and the rest of the private sector like Chams Group, to drive smart city in Lagos, located along the Lekki free trade zone. We are partnering 21 Century to drive the software application for the Smart City and we have also established the office of ICT innovation and Entrepreneurship to coordinate all of our activities towards driving Smart City in Lagos,’’he said.
Over the last five years, IT has doubled its contribution to Nigeria’s GDP from 4.5 per cent to 10 per cent , thereby accounting for about N50 billion of the N500 billion of the Nigerian economy after the rebasing the Nigerian economy.