In an apparent move to improve the digital needs of Lagos State, the Governor, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu said the state government has embarked on a series of initiatives and programs that will make the state one of the most digitized cities in Africa.
The Governor who disclosed this on Thursday at the groundbreaking of the Rack Centre 12MW IT Power Capacity Data Centre Facility, held in Oregun, urged the Companies with foreign IT workloads and services to relocate their assets locally thereby strengthening Lagos’ position in the global IT market.
Sanwo-Olu who was represented at the event by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, stressed that several efforts have been put in place by the present administration in making Lagos a significant IT Hub in Africa. He said “from our 3000km metropolitan fibre optic project to our Electronic Geographic Information System and our Smart city initiatives and implementations, Lagos is poised to be a significant IT hub for the region and the groundbreaking is lock-step and in line with the future outlook of Lagos. Today’s groundbreaking is a testament to the trust and faith investors and the wider Lagos IT market have in this company. A significant expansion like this presents the opportunity not just for growth in services, but also allows for a pushing of the technology envelope”, he concluded.
Sanwo-Olu added that the company’s neutral status and local interconnect ambitions would further strengthen Lagos’ position as a digital economic centre.
Speaking further, the Governor noted that in 2021, investments in data centre infrastructure domiciled in Lagos grew by over a billion dollars, a development attributed to the enabling environment and captive market Lagos provides. He expressed optimism that demand for future Rack centre services is already available within the market from both a private and public sector perspective.
The Governor stated that increasing IT infrastructure utilization caused by the proliferation of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning, Blockchain, Software Defined Networks, Smart City and so on aptly demonstrates the fact that the State Government is at an inflection point in the way they conduct business.
Earlier in his address the Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rack Centre, Jasper Lankhorst stated that the event marks a milestone not only for the Center but for Lagos State, Nigeria and West Africa as it is meant to support a rapidly evolving interconnectivity society.
He added that the company is now investing high-class digital centre as it is building a 12MW IT Power Capacity Data Centre Facility aimed at enhancing IT service not only in Nigeria but in Africa as a whole and this is just the starting point for the centre.
In his welcome address, the Chief Operating Officer, Ezekiel Egboye disclosed that the groundbreaking ceremony is part of an effort to expound the company’s capacity by ten folds and consolidates its leadership as a major digital infrastructure hub in West Africa.
He stated further that the Lagos Campus Data Centre has grown to be the largest carrier and cloud-neutral digital infrastructure hub and as such, the company needs to expound its thriving ecosystem.
