Digital maturity of the local authority

What does the city mean by “smart city”?

To Lagos, a smart city is an urban area that uses technology to gather, analyze and use data to manage assets, resources, and devices successfully.

Lagos State also wants to ensure that multiple sectors, such as health, transport, and the wider economy, are touched by the smart city agenda, and that citizens are able to live in a safer and more sustainable environment.

“Our aim is for the smart city to also translate to a smart economy. The demography keeps moving, and that calls for us as the state to invest heavily in collaboration with science research, to drive innovation and be responsive to the changes that are happening around us.“

Segun Olufemi Adeniji – Permanent Secretary,Lagos State Ministry of Science and Technology

What relevant projects have been done to date?

At the local level, the current ICT policy was approved in 2010. It focuses mainly on connectivity and access, which are two key priorities for the State.

At the Federal Level, Nigeria recently signed a $328 million agreement with China for the National and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB) project. This program aims at developing ICT infrastructure, predominantly for 3G and 4G networks across the country.

Commissioned in 2012, the establishment of the Lagos State Command and Control Centre provides toll-free dedicated lines of communication for Lagosians to contact relevant security and emergency agencies of the State.

The Citizengate platform is a channel for people to forward complaints, enquiries, commendations and suggestions to the government on any service that is being rendered in the State. The Platform tends to improve communication and trust between the people and the Government.

LASG have completed a project to give free WIFI ser- vices for Parks and Gardens within the State. Parks and Gardens including Mrui Okunola P & G Victoria Island, JJT P & G Alausa Ikeja and Ndubuisi Kanu P & G are among the first Parks and Gardens with free wifi service at the moment.

An e-Learning Centre was also introduced, to improve the quality of education and access to information for various research activities.

Finally, a “Digital Village” in Ikeja was opened, in order to promote the digital literacy of citizens in Lagos. The building promotes computer literacy by providing an ICT resource centre and cyber cafe.

LASG has released an e-Business Platform in order to complete business processes, including Human Resources, Account Management, Public Sector Budgeting, Asset Management etc.

Digital transport monitoring is being achieved with the deployment of an Integrated Public Transport System (ITS), with training being provided for Ministry of Transport Officers to use the system. The ITS includes vehicle tracking, smart traffic signals at intersections, ANPR Automatic Number Plate Recognition, and e-Ticketing for over 5,000 newly-introduced buses. The project is currently at the advanced stages of completion.

Inaugurated in 2017, the Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council is an organization separate from government, which looks to promote research and innovation, including the management of the Science Research and Innovation Fund. The Council also works to promote the teaching and learning of sciences and ICT technology in the region. The Council was recently funded by the Governor with seed funding of N 250,000,000.

What are the plans for the future?

For the coming years, major initiatives in Lagos State include building 6,000 km of fibre optic cable as part of the Lagos State Metro Fibre Backbone project. By the end of 2023, Lagos state will have more than 8,000 km of fibre optic cable networks.
LASG also wishes to develop smart legislation, and be able to generate data that can be used to develop digital solutions in the near future.