Olaoluwa Adeleke, a Nigerian PhD scholar in power system studies, has urged the government and stakeholders to prioritise renewable energy and digital infrastructure as part of efforts to accelerate Nigeria’s transition towards smart cities.
Adeleke made the call during an interview with The Guardian on Wednesday in Lagos, stressing that Nigeria could bypass years of infrastructure deficit by adopting technology-driven solutions already used in advanced economies such as the United States and Singapore.
He said Nigeria does not need to repeat the development challenges of older economies, adding that “we can skip decades of slow infrastructure development by going digital and integrating smart technologies into our cities.”
Adeleke, whose research focuses on renewable energy, power system stability, microgrids, and robotics, noted that Nigeria, one of Africa’s most outage-prone countries, could benefit from Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled smart grids capable of detecting and correcting faults automatically.