The Abuja smart city project on Friday received a boost following a revelation that the Federal Capital Territory Administration FCTA was collaboration with an indigenous firm, ioSafe Nigeria and Havel Corporate Concept to launch the Abuja Resident Smart Card. The project aims to align with the United Nations UN Sustainable Development Goal 11: “Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. At a news conference in Abuja, Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Dr Ahmed Badanga said the Strategic Roadmap of Abuja Smart City Project was initially conceived as a private-driven initiative in 202, but the COVID 19 pandemic led to change in plans and sudden pullout of some technical partners. The Abuja Resident Smart Card Project will be unveiled at the 2nd edition of the Nigeria Data Expo and Conference (NDEC 2024) scheduled in Abuja on July 23. He said the project aims to transform Abuja into a Smart City where every service will be at a finger-tip, and where data and technology will be deployed to render services in governance, transport, tourism, health, business and housing.
“The Abuja Smart City planning tactics, model and strategy, approach, concept, vision and solutions are informed directly by the needs, desires, expectations, that centered on the people, locally based peculiarities, grassroots innovations, social features, heritage, while leveraging on indigenous knowledge that is citizens-centric to create the right ‘Smart City’. Some key features that set Abuja Smart City Concept aside, is that we are blending global standard with our kind of unique Abuja identity, and not copying what works in other cities, but value proposition of our peculiarities. Our model of Abuja Smart City is conceptualised on utilising and leveraging on existing infrastructure, existing local technology, and existing services within and outside Abuja Metropolis to give birth to a new Abuja that is smart.
“The model is aimed at transiting the current existing Abuja to a Smart City, instead of acquiring an entire new space or land for the purpose of building a new smart city. This idea sets it apart from the examples such as the Abuja Centenary City Project, the idea of the current Governor of Kwara State acquiring about 20,065 hectares of land to build a Smart City, the famous Land Swap Initiative by FCT which are generic models that shift focus to invest in creating new cities rather than transforming already existing metropolis or city to a Smarter City”, he added. The project which will be in phases, would adopt local content and indigenous based customer support systems that rely on the internet, WiFi networks, voice services, fibre optic infrastructure, and satellite service providers available within the city. Badanga said the Abuja Resident Card is essentially necessary as part of an integral component of the proposed Abuja Smart City Project, conceived primarily with the aim of building a reliable database of all residents of Abuja to drive the process of supporting the Smart City project, enhance effective and realistic ecosystem for planning especially in the provision and rendering of social services and amenities.
