Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to set up hi-tech online gaming infrastructure in Lagos State

The Governor of Lagos State, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the French government to enable Lagos professional esports players to participate in real-time online communities and create billions of dollars with gamers around the world.

The MoU was signed between Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the French ambassador to Nigeria, Mrs. Emmanuelle Blatmann on Friday. It is a bilateral partnership which lays the foundation for the development of e-sports in Nigeria.

The agreement states that the French partner will provide a high-quality online video gaming infrastructure that will enable players in Lagos to move from casual players to competitive players in selected online league games.

The Lagos State Government says the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will help Lagos professional esports players build a real-time online community and compete with players around the world for billions of dollars of wealth to win the industry.

Under the bilateral agreement, the French partner will provide a high-quality online video game infrastructure that will enable players in Lagos to develop from casual players to competitive players in their favorite games in online leagues.

The Governor said Lagos would be unlocking opportunities for the youth, who are the main players, to make legitimate earnings from online gaming, while creating new ways of youth engagement.

“We are delighted to be laying the foundation for the development of this industry and becoming the first city in this part of Africa to do it. We are building something new, fresh and organic which will grow and uplift our youths in the IT world. This is the essence of this collaboration and the time is right to give our young people a new lease of life in the e-sports industry.

“Our enthusiasm is raised because, aside from the money to be earned from the industry, there would be skills and knowledge to be shared and transferred among our citizens taking part in the online sports. Technology, innovation and creativity are part of things we are committing great investment into in order to improve youth engagement. It is our belief that all the players will get to see the benefit of having this partnership between the two governments,” Samwo-Olu said.

Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams.

They are organised competitive video games played in real-time and watched by millions of participants across the world.

To effectively explore and leverage the opportunities in the industry, Sanwo-Olu said the State Government, through Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC), had established the Lagos State E-sports Association, and embarked on consensus-building among all the e-sports stakeholders to forge a common front in building vibrant and sustainable ecosystem.

The development was met with excitement from the local association of e-sports players, which described the partnership as long overdue.

They revealed that Nigeria has an estimated 42 million e-sports players in Nigeria, with Lagos boasting of a growing population of casual and competitive video game players, who invest resources to participate in online competition.