Experts in the ICT sector have stressed the need for continuity in government policies, saying it is the key to achieving success and sustainability of the smart cities vision.
They made this call during a panel discussion at the Smart Cities Summit organised by the Ministry of Communications with the theme “Leveraging on Technology Solutions to Improve the Efficiency of Cities’’.
Mr Miebaka Adoki, the Managing Director, Habitters Smart Cities said that there was need for government to ensure policy sustainability of the policy on smart cities when fully implemented.
According to him, continuity will, it entrenched in the system will assure investors of the security of their investments on the smart city plan.
“A situation where one administration or government official will start a programme and when he leaves office that is the end of that project or programme will not augur well with the smart cities initiative.’’
The panel spoke on “Building Innovative Public Private Partnerships for Achieving Nigeria Smart Cities Vision’’.
Adoki said that for the vision to be realised, investors must be sure that they could recoup their money and still make profit, which could not be assured in an unstable environment.
“Apart from the assurance of continuity of projects, there must be some detailed documentation that nobody will come tomorrow to cancel the project.
“There must also be internal security, meaning that investors should be sure that their infrastructures are secured and not open to vandalism.
“The stakeholders must be carried along; you cannot operate a smart city when the people that you are establishing it for are not smart.
“Citizens should be sensitised to the workings of the smart cities and there must be continuous stakeholders meeting,’’ Adoki said.
Mr Folashodun Adebisi, the Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc., said that government should go beyond licensing infrastructure companies.
According to him, it should also try to remove bottlenecks that hinder private sector participation in business, while ensuring that other revenue sources are harnessed.
Adebisi said that government must ensure that the private sector operators were given free hand to operate while adequate monitoring was key.
The Chairman of the panel, Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) assured the panel that government had ensured that policies in the sector were sustained to make room for development.
Danbatta said that there was need for enabling policies and institutions, adding, “that is why government drew up the national broadband plan which has been approved.
He said that subsidies would also be given to companies to ensure that they succeeded, adding the sharing of the country zones was also to enhance connectivity.
“The idea of dividing the country into zones is to compel the companies to go into the rural areas; we are committed to monitoring the infrastructure companies so that they will deliver on the smart city project.
“Two zones have already been created, there are Lagos and the North Central Zone, this is to ensure that all parts of the country will be covered.
“And on continuity, the Nigerian Broadband plan cannot be cancelled,’’ the chairman said.
TheNewsGuru reports that the panel also discussed the need to address partnerships and collaborations to successfully build smart cities in Nigeria.
This, the panelists noted that would assist in developing a roadmap, implementation plan and establishing coordination mechanisms for the smart cities vision.
Also, the addressing the issue of funding mechanisms and financing alternatives and investments incentives for smart cities projects was brought to the fore.
The two-day summit, which ended on Aug. 9, brought together multi-stakeholders, who took critical look at the preparedness, unique challenges and emerging solutions necessary for sustainable smart city initiative in Nigeria.
The stakeholders that participated at the summit include Huawei Nigeria, Hwelett Packard, Galaxy Backbone, MainOne Nigeria, SmartCities Plc.
Others include National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigeria Communication Commission, UN-Habitats.