Nigeria is a country that has cities with global impacts, especially impacts driven by market attraction. An example of such is the Ariaria international market located in Aba, a city in Abia State.
There are a lot of cities in Nigeria and most of these cities are overpopulated due to the major migration of people from the rural to these urban areas. This has led to a lot of adverse effects.
For one, there is environmental degradation, pollution, high crime rate, resource, and energy depletion among others. All these constitute major concerns to all and sundry.
Cities in Nigeria are not the first to experience such though. So, in a bid to mitigate these problems, the smart city concept was birthed. A lot of urban areas all over the world have already implemented and are enjoying the dividends of being smart cities.
What then is a smart city?
A smart city is an innovative concept which involves technology, software application, the internet of things, and other automated means as a tool for creating and sustaining growth.
This improves efficiency, efficacy, and accessibility. The smart city also improves accountability, as it is a joint city-building effort.
Countries like Singapore, Norway implemented the smart city concept in some of their cities. This developed the cities which in turn brought development to their country. New York City is an example of a smart city that is thriving tremendously.
A smart city can greatly improve the urban community, making available services like smart parking, digitized governance, smart traffic management, public Wi-fi, energy, and energy conservation.
Smart houses are also another likely outcome of smart cities, smart house sensors can monitor potential house problems such as plumbing leaks.
Setting up and implementing a smart city can be initially capital intensive; it also requires expert knowledge for most of the technical and software applications and it demands all accessible governance.
No doubt a smart city provides an urban environment that generates and improves the economic situation of a city as well as improves the standard of living for citizens resident in the city.
Knowing this we can now ask ourselves:
- Is Nigeria ready for smart cities?
- Can it meet up the demands of smart cities?
- Do we have the capital and technical know-how required to drive the smart city concept?
- Do we have citizens who are willing to discipline themselves enough to understand and work towards achieving smart cities?
- Do the people believe enough in the government to collaborate with them on creating smart cities?
Nigeria is ripe for smart cities, however, we are not ready for it yet. This opinion is relative to what is obtainable in the country today.
There needs to be a move to first educate the population on the importance of smart cities and why there’s a need for it in Nigeria while also assuring the citizens in the best possible way that it’s not another governmental shenanigan.
Then and only then can Nigerians contribute their quota to achieving that, because this is not the first time the smart city concept is being introduced.
In 2016, the smart city concept was adopted by Akinwunmi Ambode, the then Governor of Lagos State. According to the governor, the Lagos smart city Goal was to remodel transportation routes, airports, seaports, rail, and roads.
The goal also included improved security and surveillance, infrastructure, the introduction of e-governance, improved high-speed internet access to Lagosians by the installation of a fiber metro network cable.
Technically, the smart city goes beyond the 2016 Lagos Smart City Goals, and even at that, the implementation of the stipulated goals is yet to be fully carried out.
As ambitious as the quest for smart Cities in Nigeria might seem, the world’s population of urban dwellers is stipulated to increase to 66% from the 54% where it’s currently at by 2050. It is therefore pertinent that steps towards achieving smart cities are intensified.
All hands have to be on deck in whatever capacity one can help to ensure we can have a city that’s comfortable and balanced both in its environmental, social, and economic position.
Although how we can achieve that is yet to be determined; however, the countdown has already begun. Ready or not we have to do something.
About the author
Chibuzor Elizabeth Chijioke a graduate of Abia State University is a Nigerian-based entrepreneur and content writer. She trained as a digital marketer at Innovation Growth Hub. She is committed to teaching people how to apply technology to better their lives and businesses. She spends her leisure reading sci-fi and fantasy novels.
