The Lagos State Government is in partnership with Tech. Giants, Facebook and Google to construct the biggest technology cluster in West Africa.
According to Nairametrics, “This is part of the state government’s effort to largely increase the level of its intervention in the provision of technology infrastructure and expand the tech space to accommodate more startups.”
This disclosure was made by the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, while visiting 2 major innovation and technology Hubs in Lagos on Wednesday, June 2, 2021.
The two Hubs visited by the Governor, together with members of the Executive Council in Lagos State are “Venia Hub” in Lekki and “Impact Hub”, Ikoyi. The parties met with several startups in the Innovation and Tech industry for a roundtable discussion on how to expand funding opportunities and infrastructure development.
Members of the Executive Council who accompanied Governor Sanwo-Olu were the Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr Hakeem Fahm, and Special Adviser on Innovation and Technology, Olatunbosun Alake.
Sanwo-Olu has said that the Yaba Technology Cluster, called K.I.T.E., would be a free zone that would allow the growth of funding and financing for innovative ideas generated by entrepreneurs in the tech industry and FinTech space. He added that the ecosystem would also offer free labs for the use of startups to take their innovations from ideation to the next level.
K.I.T.E. is an acronym for Knowledge, Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship.
Sanwo-Olu described technology as the new oil for Lagos. He added that the industry will generate wealth and jobs for its young population and also raise the status of the State to attain the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“As a State with a massive population of young people, we need to play a major role in the development of technology, which is an enabler to leapfrog into rapid socio-economic growth. We take technology as an important deliverable in our government’s development agenda.”
The Governor added that for the state to make a lasting impact in the tech industry, it needs to build the infrastructure to support the sector. Hence, the Lagos State Government is looking to build a tech campus on a 22,000 square meters land at Yaba. Thus, it hopes to be christened as K.I.T.E.
“We are working with global brands in the tech space, such as Facebook and Google, to deliver this important technology hub.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu added that the state is currently laying 3,000 kilometres of metropolitan fiber optic cables across the State to drop reliable and fast Internet connectivity in homes and workplaces.
According to him, these are part of the infrastructure required as the backbone for the tech industry to flourish and empower our young people in the space to take their businesses and ideas to the level of stability.
The governor said that apart from the infrastructural initiatives, the State Government had been providing support for startups through the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) and Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council (LASRIC), which provide grant opportunities for innovators and tech researchers.
He also disclosed that 2 out of the 20 start-ups ideas supported through LASRIC last year had secured patents for their innovations and were ready to transform into fully-fledged businesses that would create jobs.
Going further Governor Sanwo-Olu said:
“The visit to your ecosystems today is for you to be assured that this Government is not sitting back in taking steps to ease access. We fully understand the role which technology plays in our lives and how technology is important to any society that wants to be relevant in the coming decades. We are happy to be building the capability for Lagos so that we can compete with other developed cities in the world.”
LSETF Executive Secretary, Mrs Teju Abisoye, said the agency had been providing support for over 38 partner hubs across Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the State, stressing that the objective of the funding was to support startups from idea to exit stages.
