Lagos Govt, AWS Harp on IoT Initiative to Boost Economic Growth
Emma Okonji
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Nigeria User Group and movement championing the growth developments and adoption of technology in Nigeria, in collaboration with the Lagos State government, is pushing for the new measures that will fast-track the deployment of infrastructure through Internet of Things (IoT) that will enhance economic growth of Nigeria.
At a recent stakeholders’ meeting organised by AWS, which held at the Zone Tech Park in Gbagada, Lagos, with the theme: ‘Connecting The World With AWS IoT and Serverless Event-Driven Architectures’, AWS stressed the need for an IoT-driven economy.
Speaking at the forum, the Chief Executive and Technology Officer, Datamello, Mr. Wale Adedeji, stressed the need for stakeholders within the technology ecosystem to take advantage of emerging technologies to facilitate speed of business operations through automation.
According to him, “This Meetup is called AWS Nigerian User Group Meetup. We meet and organise this kind of meeting at intervals, aimed at educating and showcasing the amazing products people are building on AWS. AWS stands for Amazon Web Services, and it is a cloud computing arm of amazon.com.
“All what Amazon has learned over the years is a suite in our package and everything for the whole world to use to transform their businesses. So, the cloud computing has grown so much in the Western world. There is virtually any company that is not in a particular cloud.”
Senior Special Adviser to Lagos Sate Governor on Science and Technology, Saheed Balogun, said the Nigeria User Group remained very relevant to Lagos State and the country as a whole because of its dream to fast-track infrastructural development.
According to him, “The use innovative technologies such as AWS IoT, will definitely help in reducing excess of damages. Instead of digging up constructed roads to lay fibre cables, IoT could be applied to get things right. Lagos is already working towards Smart City status, and that is why we see this initiative as a timely one, which we have already started to explore and deploy. Developers’community is critical to achieving this. I strongly believe that developers can transform Lagos to Smart City and put it on global map.”
Balogun further explained that Lagos government partnered AWS to further leverage on IoT as an important component that will turn Lagos into a 21st century economy, as part of the THEMES agenda of the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
AWS Senior Solution Architect, Ousseynou Beye, during his presentation as guest speaker, disclosed that a lot of customers have benefited from AWS IoT.
“The benefits of AWS IoT is quite enormous. Through it, organisations can have healthier energy resources and build smarter products. In the area of security in the home, this is also very relevant. Our transportation system can be better organised with IoT. The same goes with tracking of inventories, ” Beye said.
