Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu has reiterated that his administration is deeply committed to the rapid transformation of the Lekki corridor and other industrial hubs in the state; as he performed a groundbreaking ceremony of a $250 million hyperscale data centre, owned by Kasi Cloud Limited in Lekki Peninsula on Tuesday.
Sanwo-Olu said his government is committed to using education and technology, which is the second pillar of the T.H.E.M.E.S development agenda, as a tool to create a 21st Century Lagos that the people of the state dreamt of and talked about.
Sanwo-Olu’s strategic development agenda for the state is anchored on T.H.E.M.E.S which stands for Traffic Management and Transportation; Health and Environment; Education and Technology, Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy, Entertainment and Tourism, and Security and Governance.
Built on a four-hectare land, the Kasi Data Centre at Lekki Peninsula II, will provide an interconnection and data center platform for Nigeria to support digital ecosystems and drive internet access to over 200 million people. As the technology hub of Nigeria and West Africa, Lagos State will host the data centre, which will be the largest in the country, with numerous economic benefits and nurturing the future generations.
Sanwo-Olu said the data centre would create jobs, attract additional investment and deliver high-speed internet access that will be transformational for emerging and existing digital ecosystems.
‘On our part as a state government, we are deeply committed to the rapid transformation of the Lekki corridor, as well as every other industrial hub in the state. We are demonstrating this commitment through policies and interventions designed to improve the business environment, to reform critical government institutions and systems and to unlock new levels of innovative thinking among our people, especially our youth.
‘We realise that the people of Lagos are the most formidable assets that we have. They are the ones who will write the narrative of this megacity now and into the future. We must educate and upskill them, to prepare them for the rapidly evolving working environment of the 21st century. We want to use education and technology as a tool to be able to create a 21st Century Lagos that we all dream and talk about’, the Governor said.
While commending Kasi Cloud Limited for building the data centre in Lagos, Sanwo-Olu said what the company’s investment is a testament to the capacity and capability of Nigerians to dream world-class dreams and convert them into reality.
‘The economic impact that digital infrastructure improvement has on nation-building cannot be overemphasised. The siting of the new infrastructure in this part of Lagos is also not by accident. This is the fastest-growing corridor of the State, home to several large-scale industrial, manufacturing and logistics investments’, he said.
Former Minister of Information and Communications, Mr Frank Nweke (Jnr), commended Sanwo-Olu for positioning Lagos as a pre-eminent destination for investment in Nigeria and indeed the continent of Africa.
He said: ‘What is happening here today is not an accident at all. And it is on this basis that I want to pay my respect to Mr Governor and his colleagues in Lagos State for positioning Lagos as a preeminent destination for investment in Nigeria and indeed the continent of Africa. I salute your investment in security. I salute your humility’.
The Enugu State governorship aspirant further said: ‘The other reason why I am here today is to draw anointing from you as a gubernatorial aspirant in Enugu State and to also take a few lessons. I know that security is important and I know that even your understanding and knowledge of the economy, the local environment, national and global environment is extremely important. So, in the coming days, I am going to be visiting you just to do some kind of apprenticeship under you to ensure that when I become governor of Enugu by God’s grace, that I can follow your footsteps and do the kind of things we are doing here today’.
The Founder and CEO of Kasi Cloud Limited, Mr Johnson Agogbua, who said the data centre would create jobs opportunity and investment in the community, commended the Sanwo-Olu administration for its commitment to technology and innovation development in the state.
