Lagos hinges economic development on ICT adoption

The new phase of development spreading across Lagos State has been hinged on various investments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

This was disclosed on Monday, by the State’s Commissioner for Science and Technology, Olufemi Odubiyi, while giving account of ICT related activities of the state to mark the second year of the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode led administration.

Odubiyi, who said ICT remains a vital instrument that is used by governments to enhance service delivery strategy and bring about innovations for the development of the economy, also noted that any country that wants to be at par with the developed society must invest hugely in ICT.

As such, the Commissioner said Lagos State has been in the vanguard of IT development with the introduction of various portals and applications. He added that prompt and efficient service delivery has been the hallmark of the administration, and “with the introduction of these ICT facilities, service delivery has improved tremendously and governance has been brought closer to the citizen.”

According to him, some of the mandates of the ministry include to initiate, formulate, execute, monitor and evaluate policies relating to Science and Information Communication Technology.

He said the ministry is also mandated to enlarge the pool of scientific manpower, attract young people to careers in science and retaining same. According to him, the ministry must also establish globally competitive research facilities for the promotion, research and development in Science and ICT.

Odubiyi, accompanied by his counterpart from the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, revealed that the state reduced the level of fraud and counterfeiting associated vehicle registration with the launch of the number plate verification portal.

He said the portal has improved revenue generation as more number plates have been registered since inception, and urged residents to embrace the newly designed portal known as “Citizens Gate”, which is aimed at facilitating interaction, communication and connectivity between the citizen and the State Government.

Odubiyi explained that the platform would afford citizens to enquire about government services, provide an avenue to make suggestions on government services for better confidence and trust in the present state administration.

Odubiyi also said the Lagos State Citizens Gate portal can be accessed via a web link citizensgate.lagosstate.gov.ng and a downloadable mobile App from Google play store and Apple store (Android and iOS), adding that 22 MDAs’ have been integrated into the porter.

He claimed that since the launch of the platform, it has helped the state to prevent outbreak of health related diseases, address child abuse, inform the state about kidnappers den, improve and help the cleaner Lagos initiative in the area of waste and traffic management, road and infrastructure.

Odubiyi said the LASG Job Portal helped in the recruitment of over 7000 Lagos Neighbourhood Security Corps, support staff and LASTMA officials.

Claiming that LASG was the first state in the federation to provide a complete online recruitment and testing platform, Odubiyi said the project provides an online platform for the registration of prospective job seekers, selection, recruitment and online testing.

The Commissioner said the state is committed to becoming smart, adding that a comprehensive programme that will provide a 24-hour driven economy and allow companies to operate in a safe and secure environment, thereby creating a safer and more conducive environment for business, more jobs and increasing its GDP.

He said the focus of the programme includes security, implementation of the Fibre Metro Network and eGovernance. Divided into two phases, Odubiyi said the first will see the deployment of 2000 HD cameras with 1000 gantries; integration of the deployed cameras with the Centralised Emergency Command and Control Centre: provision of 1000 road signage structure across Lagos and the provision of 6000 street lights across the state.

Phase two is expected to see the deployment of 11,000 HD cameras; deployment of world class e-Government solution; deployment of Data centre solution for the state; unified communications with smartphones for some peculiar agencies (Police, LASTMA, KAI, Fire Service, LASAMBUS, and VIO) and the eLTE solutions.

Odubiyi hinted that there will also be the deployment of One Key Alarm and the provision of metro fibre network to serve as backbone for communication. On his part, Ayorinde called for more support for the administration so as to ensure the dividends of democracy.