Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has underscored the need to support private companies working to deploy technology like drones to deliver medical supplies faster and further in order to save lives in the main cities and rural communities.
He made the suggestion on Thursday in a virtual message to the 2020 Art of Technology conference themed: “Smart data, Smarter Lagos” while speaking on the deployment of technology in addressing challenges associated with traffic control, general service delivery and environmental management.
The Vice President, who cited examples of private companies leveraging technology to provide services in the health and related sectors, said “technology can be a leveler, closing gaps in our society such as the rural–urban divide and bridging gaps in access to social services and broadening financial inclusion.”
He said “COVID-19 Pandemic has taught us important lessons in the necessity of applying technology-enabled solutions to strengthen our health security architecture.”
He said “developmental governance in the 21st century is about continuously deploying innovative solutions against our most complex challenges.”
“Tools such as telemedicine can be deployed to deliver medical services to underserved and difficult to reach areas. We must also provide the right conditions for more private sector organizations like Temi Giwa’s Life Bank that have been working very hard in the distribution of medical supplies to expand their reach to other states and utilize technology like drones to deliver medical supplies faster and further, thereby saving lives beyond the main cities and in rural communities,” the Vice President added.
Prof. Osinbajo said “this is why this administration is working to bridge the digital divide by increasing access to broadband with our National Broadband Plan which was launched this year. The plan is aimed at achieving 90% broadband penetration by 2023. The plan will give special attention to underserved areas when deploying telecom services.
“Opportunities crying out for smart solutions abound across various sectors of our society and economy.”
Osinbajo said although Nigeria had been known globally as one of the leading producers of crude oil, the reputation of the country in the near future would be based on the imagination and creativity of Nigerians.
The Art of Technology conference, which started in 2019, is organised annually by both the Lagos State Government and the technology community with the purpose of facilitating multi-stakeholder discussions, exchanges and collaborations along the data value chain as an enabler of SMARTER LAGOS.
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