Telecom
Lagos hosts technology conference to integrate innovation into growth plan
In line with its transformational objectives, Lagos State Government is hosting a world-class conference in conjunction with Eko Innovation Center (EIC) to discuss integration of technology and innovation into the state growth plan.
The conference, tagged Art of Technology (AOT), scheduled to hold on Thursday 5th and Friday 6th December respectively at the Oriental Hotels in Lagos, will converge over 2000 Tech giants, Policy makers, Government officials, Venture Capitalists, Product Designers, Cultural Architects, Software Engineers/Programmers, Creative Architects, Innovators and Tech enthusiasts to deliberate on the evolution of a smarter and digital Lagos.
As a first-of its-kind in Lagos, the AOT conference will extensively discuss how technology and innovation will transform the state into a smart city, and review necessary collaborations between operators in the innovation ecosystem and Lagos State Government towards achieving this goal.
Specifically, deliberations will center around the ‘Impact of Innovation on The Nigerian Economy, Creative Funding, Stakeholders in Innovation, The Future of Work, Tech, Pain-Points and the Smart City’ to allow for diverse perspectives by the multi-disciplinary faculty assembled for the conference.
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is the chief host, will be joined by other notable speakers like Mr. Leke Alder, Principal Consultant, Alder Consulting, Ms. Megan Curran, West Africa Director, Acumen, Mr. Ayotunde Coker, Managing Director, the Rack Center, Ms. Juliet Ehimuah, Country Director Google Nigeria and kunle Oloruntimehin, Country General Manager, CISCO Nigeria at the high-level discussions.
Other notable speakers and panelists drawn from Africa and around the world, with expertise in Innovation, big data, block-chain and artificial Intelligence, expected at the 2-day conference to deliberate on new realities and ways local Tech Innovators can become and remain competitive are Tomi Otudeko, Head, Innovation and Sustainability at Honeywell Group, Amauche Emenari, Researcher at MIT, kola Aina, Founder at Venture Platforms. Uche Isiugo Jnr, CEO, Emerging Infrastructure Capital, Fareed Arogundade, Founder, Workstation amongst others.
After insightful keynotes and inspiring workshops, innovators will showcase some of the products and solutions they have designed to address Lagos’ problems.
This is in response to a call for innovative responses to some socio-economic challenges facing the state government, some of which include Food and Agriculture, Transportation and Traffic Management, Energy, Housing, security and Environment, Job Creation and Empowerment and others. The preferred submissions will win a deal from the Lagos State Government.
Earlier, Mr. Tobosun Alake, Special Adviser, Innovation and Technology as well as the Conference Convener had said “that AOT is a collaborative engagement that will create a path to the sustainable development of our State.”
He added that “Technology is one of the major pillars of our T.H.E.M.E.S agenda and we are keen on deploring its phenomenal capacity to leapfrog our state to the forefront of innovation and development across the entire spectrum of human endeavours”.
For its strategic importance to the innovation and technology ecosystem, the AOT conference has generated significant interest amongst operators and players in the technology sub-sector of the economy.
Notably, some of the leading names in the sub-sector including Microsoft, Huawei, IBM, Oracle, Acumen, Swift Networks and others are collaborating with Lagos State Government and Eko Innovation Center (EIC) on AOT.
Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) is planning to encourage geo-political regions that grants zero charges for ‘Right of Way’ approvals as well not implementing arbitrary charges on telecommunications base stations in their regions with zero tariff.
Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON disclosed this to Nigeria CommunincationsWeek against the backdrop of incessant closure of base stations in some states.
He said that operators believe that the way out of this arbitrary charges and high cost of RoW approvals is regional tariffs.
“Operators are advocating for a regional tariff which means that geographical regions of Nigeria where cost of doing business for telecommunications operators is extremely high will attract high tariff compared to regions where there is low operating cost.
“Our advocacy of regional tariff is not based on a particular state but on regions. As at today there are regions where we have zero cost of “Right of Way” and low cost of doing business. Tariffs should reflect on operating environment. This means that national rate plan should consider high and low cost of doing business.
“If this is implemented, in a long run we could witness some regions having zero tariff because operational cost in such regions are friendly to operators,” he said.
It would be recalled that Kogi State recently shut down some operators’ base stations on account of local levies which raises the call for discriminatory tariff among geographical locations.
Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has hit back at Meta Platforms Inc, warning the tech giant that its threat to exit Nigeria will not erase its legal responsibilities or liabilities under the Nigerian law.
Meta said earlier today, May 3, that it “may be forced to effectively shut down the Facebook and Instagram services in Nigeria in order to mitigate the risk of enforcement measures.”
Meta’s warning came after it lost a legal bid last week to overturn a ₦220 million fine imposed by the FCCPC for violations of data protection and consumer rights laws.
Reacting to Meta’s threat, FCCPC, in a statement on Saturday, May 3, described Meta’s statement as “a calculated” move aimed at “inducing negative public reaction and potentially pressuring the FCCPC to reconsider its decision.”
FCCPC said that Meta threatening to leave Nigeria does not absolve the company of liabilities for the outcome of a judicial process.
“These infringements included denying Nigerians the right to control their personal data, transferring and sharing Nigerian user data without authorisation, discriminating against Nigerian users compared to users in other jurisdictions and abusing their dominant market position by forcing unfair privacy policies,” FCCPC wrote on X.
“Interestingly, Meta had been fined for similar breaches in Texas ($1.5b) and only recently was asked to pay $1.3 Billion for violating E.U. Data Privacy Rules.
Elsewhere in India, South Korea, France and Australia, Meta had faced varying penalties for similar breaches. But Meta never resorted to the blackmail of threatening to exit those countries. They obeyed.”
Meta may shut down its Facebook and Instagram services in Nigeria in protest against the substantial fines imposed by multiple government agencies.
The tech giant has been ordered to pay nearly $300 million in fines in Africa’s most populous nation, following regulatory demands which Meta described as “unrealistic.”
In July 2024, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), imposed a $220 million fine on Meta for allegedly discriminatory and exploitative practices against Nigerian consumers.
The commission stated that Meta had failed to engage a Data Protection Compliance Organisation and had not submitted a Nigeria Data Protection Regulation audit report for two consecutive years.
Similarly, the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), demanded $37.5 million over unapproved advertising, while the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC), announced a $32.8 million fine for an alleged data privacy breach.
Meta challenged the decisions at the Federal High Court in Abuja but was unsuccessful, as the court upheld the fines in a ruling delivered last week.
The court directed the company to comply with payment by the end of June, but Meta has indicated it may not do so, according to the BBC.
“The applicant may be forced to effectively shut down the Facebook and Instagram services in Nigeria in order to mitigate the risk of enforcement measures,” the company stated in court documents.
Responding to the NDPC’s assertion that Meta’s data processing could expose Nigerian users to health and financial risks, the company said the agency had failed to “properly interpret the laws guiding data privacy.”
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