By Olamide Francis
The Lagos State Government has announced plans to leverage the use of cleaner energy to power the booming ICT sector in the State, NatureNews gathered.
This disclosure was made vis a press release on Thursday by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources at a roundtable with the ICT industry stakeholders while highlighting the intentions of the State Government to achieve significant reductions in carbon emissions.
At the well-attended session tagged the “Clean Energy Initiative to Power the ICT Sector in Lagos,” the Honourable Commissioner, Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources, Engr. Olalere Odusote, emphasized the importance of the ICT sector in achieving the State’s ambitions of becoming a Smart City and a 21st Century Economy as evidenced by the ongoing deployment of 6000km of fiber optic cables across the State.
He added that Lagos has the highest density of ICT infrastructure in Nigeria, and the sector accounts for about 410,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum in the State.
He enjoined the attendees to collaborate with the State on its journey towards a low carbon economy by embracing cleaner energy sources such as Solar, Wind, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
Engr. Odusote, noted that the current administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is focused on providing the leadership and the enabling environment and is crafting the appropriate policies to support this transition”.
The State Government is also working with energy sector players to ensure that various clean energy solutions are available to the ICT sector to enable the transition.
In her contribution, the General Manager of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Dr, Dolapo Fasawe, further added that Lagos State is committed to supporting Nigeria to achieve the objective of net-zero emission target by 2050 under the C40 Cities Alliance alongside 9 other African cities.
She added that to attain and surpass these lofty goals in the State, we require the full commitment and collaboration of all stakeholders.
The Group CEO for Viathan Engineering, Mr. Habeeb Alebiosu, remarked that the roundtable provided a great opportunity for Viathan to highlight the appropriate clean energy solutions suitable for the ICT industry and for the general public.
Mr. Alebiosu highlighted that Viathan operates a number of power plants in Lagos and its environs deploying only natural gas and other renewable forms of energy, thereby reducing CO2 emissions that adversely affects the environment.
He further stated that other ICT and Telecoms organizations should take advantage and be connected to Viathan’s network for round the clock power availability with no consequences to their technology and equipment.
“Our doors are always open for business,” he concluded.
In his presentation, Mr Adetoyese Oyerinde, the Head of Data Centre at Cloud Exchange stated that Power is critical to our business; clean energy gives us the room to do and be more.
While corroborating the viewpoints of Mr. Alebiosu, Cloud Exchange added that Viathan’s clean energy solutions have helped Cloud Exchange to reduce its operating cost, noise pollution and carbon emissions.
Speaking at the roundtable, Mr Dayo Adeshina, the Programme Manager, National Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Expansion Plan highlighted the potential role that LPG could play in driving the clean energy transition in the ICT sector.
He noted that “The Federal Government is keen to improve the availability of LPG by implementing the LPG Expansion Plan”.