Shittu, others mull over $300bn Africa smart cities investments

The Nigerian minister of communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, executive director of the SMART Africa Programme, Dr Hamadoun Touré, and several leading information communications technology (ICT) players, have said that there is an investment need for infrastructure in Africa of about over $300 billion over the next 10 years if the continent is to reach its full potential.

ADEBAYO SHITTU

The experts spoke at the second installment of Ericsson’s Africa Night, a networking and conversation platform for key stakeholders in the sector to engage on matters related to the digitisation of Africa at the just concluded Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona, Spain, where Ericsson hosted a discussion on the impact of smart cities for a connected Africa.

The head of Ericsson’s region sub-Saharan Africa, Fredrik Jejdling, said, “Industries and society are transforming as a result of ICT, and the establishment of smart cities that are equipped to manage some of the most important needs in evolving cities, such as safety, transportation, and utilities, requires active collaboration between various stakeholders.

Touré said, “The investment will not be charity, its business. Today, the continent has the highest return on investment. Governments are putting the right regulatory environments in place with regard to spectrum, licences and national broadband plans and, therefore, with the public partnership model that we are advocating, there is money to be made.

From the Nigerian perspective, Shittu shared the success of two initiatives that were having a positive impact on connecting Nigerians and bringing financial inclusion and accountability: the Treasury Single Account (TSA) as well as preloaded money cards that are now available, for example, to farmers.

The Rwandan minister for ICT and youth, Jean-Philbert Nsengimana, extolled the role of partnerships in delivering smart cities in Africa.

“Rwanda is leading in four areas in collaboration with Ericsson: payments, digitising transportation, safety and utilities. There is no way a government alone can drive massive projects at the rate at which we are doing it without strong partnerships,” Nsengimana.

Speaking on the progress of the Smart Rwanda Project in his country, the minister projected that 95 per cent of all transactions between the government and citizens by the end of 2017 will be online, and round the clock.

The United Nations estimates that by 2050 almost 70 percent of the world’s population will be city dwellers. Though Africa remains mostly rural with only 40 per cent in urban areas as at 2014, this is expected to change in coming decades as Africa, like Asia, is expected to urbanize faster than other regions in the world.

The growth of cities raises a range of social, economic and environmental challenges, putting pressure on infrastructure, natural systems and social structures. However, as the challenges of urbanization intersect with ICT-driven opportunities, solutions emerge with the potential to improve the lives of billions.