Sanwo-Olu positions Lagos as Africa’s biggest innovation hub

Executive governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu is positioning Lagos State as Africa’s biggest innovation hub.

The government’s investment in technology and innovation is a deliberate effort to position the State as key player in global technology space, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, a statement by Gboyega Akosile, the governor’s spokesman said on Monday. In the statement, the Governor said his administration’s financial commitment to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is to make Lagos Africa’s foremost centre of innovation by harnessing local capabilities in developing tech solutions that would reduce the State’s reliance on foreign tech inventions.

Sanwo-Olu spoke while receiving the management team of Oracle Africa Group who came on a courtesy visit at the Lagos House in Alausa. The team was led by the Group’s Country Director, Mr. Adebayo Sanni.

The Governor said the recently approved seed capital of N250 million was particularly aimed at enhancing young people’s innovative skills and empowering them to be tech solutions providers as the world progresses in digitisation. He said: “Technology has gotten to a stage where we all need it to leapfrog and enhance accuracy in governance. As a Government, we have always promoted technology to take the lead and be a strong enabler for us to deliver on our promises to the people.

“We are taking steps to further collaborate with partners that will strengthen our capacity to be big player in global tech space. We just concluded a two-day Art of Technology where we announced the establishment of innovation research council and N250 million seed capital to support young innovators locally. “We are not looking at what is going to be our immediate benefit by this investment; rather we want to create a robust technology culture that will give young people opportunities to explore their innovative skills in bringing about tech solutions and applications we can use to advance our service delivery.”

Sanwo-Olu acknowledged the technical support offered by Oracle Group to stabilise processes in the State’s civil service and in promoting accountability in administrative process. The Governor, however, said the relationship between both parties must be consolidated to boost the capacity of the State Government and keep it abreast of the latest technological solutions developed to ease processes. Sanni described the two-decade partnership between Lagos Government and Oracle Group as “mutually beneficial”, noting that Lagos is one of the IT firm’s success story in deploying technology solutions to improve governance.

He said: “Lagos State is one of the places we use as an example globally in terms of what we have done in helping governments transform their business using technology. Oracle wants to consolidate on this partnership and make commitment that will help Lagos State sustain its growth.” Sanni assured the Governor that the IT firm was willing to review and build on its technical assistance to the State Government for improved service delivery, while also promising to boost the capacity of the current administration in using data to take predictive analysis of situations across the State.