A meeting of Lagos state government cabinet agreed to accelerate the coverage of the state by fibre infrastructure. At the meeting, members reviewed economic activities for 2020 and the provisions of the 2021 budget in several sectors, including information technology and communication.
At the meeting, Olatubosun Alake (pictured), Lagos state governor’s special advisor on technology and innovation, said: “The unified fibre project is a multi-year project and we are looking to install a total of 6,000 km of cables.”
Lagos state is an area of just 3,577 sq km, with a population measured in many millions. The city of Lagos alone had an estimated population of 16 million when last measured in 2015.
Alake told the cabinet meeting that the fibre will be used to connect “all our public schools and educational institutions, our health centres and all government and para-public offices”, as well as offering high-speed communications to the public.
The project was launched in July 2020, and it will enable a smart city programme, according to the Ecofin news agency. “One of the hallmarks of the smart city initiative will be the safe city project where we plan to install over 2,000 security cameras that will help monitor crime and manage traffic,” said Alake.
The cabling will be done in two phases of 3,000km each, said Alake.
