Kadri Hamzat, the deputy governor of Lagos State, claimed that over a billion dollars had been invested in data centers there during the previous 12 months.
Speaking at the Art of Technology (AOT) Lagos 4.0, with the topic “Talent Acceleration and a Smarter Lagos,” hosted at the Landmark Event Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos, the deputy governor made this disclosure.
The deputy governor stated that this action will enable the local domicile of digital platforms and open the state for additional digital technology prospects as some students were honored at the occasion for winning the Innovation and Ideas Competition.
At the same time, he pointed out that the abundance of these investments offered the ecosystem chances for talent development.
The deputy governor noted that the current administration’s increased focus on innovation in an effort to create value outputs for the state’s ecosystem was informed by the entrepreneurial climate and the open support for technology.
According to Hamzat, who referenced Startup Genome, Lagos is currently the top technology startup ecosystem in Africa in terms of funding, performance, and the sheer quantity of firms producing value. The state government is thrilled to witness the expansion the ecosystem has undergone over the years, she said.
He claimed that between 2019 and 2021, venture capital (VC) inflow into Lagos saw an increase of over 120%, resulting in $1.5 billion in VC funding in 2021 alone. He also claimed that the state had a history of more than 2000 startups producing and adding value across Fintech, Agritech, Construction, Health, and other sectors.
He continued by saying that the administration’s contribution was demonstrated by the various initiatives and implementations found in the State’s first Innovation and Technology Masterplan, which, in his opinion, contains a number of strategic pillars that flow into a number of tactical initiatives introduced during the first Art of Technology edition.
Since the inception of AOT events, the state has been able to create value-creating contributions that have made it possible to have a closer and more effective working connection with the ecosystem, according to Hamzat.
“Since the initial AOT meeting, we have sparked the Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council, a group made up of experts from the public and private sectors, whose job it is to actively influence the ecosystem through funding.
Over 60 firms have received investment between $5,000 and $12,000 in the previous two years as a result, he claimed.
The deputy governor also revealed that over 600 smart intelligent video surveillance cameras and intelligent transportation cameras for traffic monitoring and management had been deployed across the city in order to realize this administration’s vision of a smart city.
In his welcome address earlier, the Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Hakeem Fahm, stressed the importance of properly channeling youth energy if the state was to achieve full development in all spheres of life.
He continued by saying that the youth of Lagos were unquestionably going to be the face of the state and the country in the future. He described them as being brimming with brilliant ideas and boundless energy, and predicted that they would shine like stars if given the right opportunities and the right platform.
However, the commissioner reaffirmed that the state government would now place a focus on talent acceleration and a Smarter Lagos, noting that the government was developing a 10-year roadmap to expand the talent acceleration pipeline in order to achieve talent sustainability and deliver a smarter Lagos.
