MTN: Big Data Will Address Nation's Socio-economic Challenges
Emma Okonji
The Chief Transformation Officer at MTN Nigeria, Mr. Olubayo Adekanmbi, has said that with proper application, nations, especially developing economies can apply big data to solve fundamental socio-economic challenges, particularly the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This was the MTN Nigeria’s Adekanmbi who made the disclosure at the recent Information Technology Conference (ITC) in Abuja, which was organised by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), explained that nations who intelligently apply big data, will have commensurate growth in their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) than those who do not apply it.
Speaking on the theme: ‘Fostering Digital Economy through Local Content Development and Effective Regulations’, Adekanmbi said: “Big data can be applied to tremendous effects. For instance, it has been linked to multiple uses in infectious disease tracking, weather management, agricultural yield optimisation, precision policing, human migration, governance, urban planning, emergency response, intelligent transport network and many others.â€
He however cautioned on the importance of data security, customer privacy, and anonymisation for effective use of aggregated data for social good.
Adekanmbi leveraged the platform to reinforce how MTN Nigeria uses the power of intelligent aggregation to transform the Nigerian music industry by creating easy-to-use, on-demand music, which has been most profitable for the practitioners in the music industry.
“With data, comes information and with information comes knowledge. Good knowledge powers decisions that deliver results and when we commit to using big data in a most logical way, we can transform industries, society, and the world at large,†he said.
He commended the government’s planned open data policy and how it would aid the private sector in strategic planning and increasing investment levels in Nigeria.
The conference was declared open by President Muhammadu Buhari, who stated that a renewed focus in ICT has yielded positive effects on the Nigerian economy, while citing examples of the Biometric Verification Number (BVN) and Treasury Single Account (TSA) exercises, which he said have yielded positive results for the Nigerian economy.
