Members of the Lagos State Government Cabinet met on Nov 28 to review the 2020 economic activities and the provisions of the 2021 budget in several sectors, ICT included. The officials agreed to accelerate the coverage of the state by the optical fiber infrastructure.

Olatubosun Alake, Lagos State Governor’s Special Advisor on Technology and Innovation, said: “The unified fiber project is a multi-year project and we’re looking to install a total of 6000km in fiber optic cables. This will come in two phases of 3000km each. We plan to connect the fiber optic cables to all our public schools and institutions of learning, health centers, and all government offices and parastatals.”

Beyond simply providing broadband connectivity to the population, Olatubosun Alake added that the fiber project launched in July 2020 is also the bedrock for a more ambitious goal, that of a smart city. “One of the features of the smart city initiative will be the safe city project where we plan to install over 2000 security cameras that will help monitor crime and manage traffic across the city,” he said.