Adopting the fifth-generation (5G) network will transform Nigeria into a ‘smart city’, improve its economic growth and migrate it to a digital economy, experts have said.
The Computer Professionals (Registration Council of Nigeria), gave the recommendation in a communique issued at the end of its meeting on Wednesday.
The communique, jointly signed by the President in Council, Charles Uwadia, and the secretary of the council, Allwell Achumba, was sent by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The deployment of 5G in Nigeria has raised a lot of controversies.
While many Nigerians had claimed that the technology is already in the country and was injurious, the NCC had denied rumours the technology was in use in some parts of the country.
The NCC, in November, approved trials for 5G for a period of three months. The trial has been concluded and installation decommissioned, it said, while licences have not been issued yet.
The fifth generation of mobile technology is an improvement on the current 4G technology being used, but with enhanced capabilities.
The technology provides the platform for new and emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data to improve the way people live and work.
Experts speak
The communique said the deployment of 5G in Nigeria is capable of fast-tracking its economic growth.
“Deployment of 5G in Nigeria has numerous advantages which include faster internet connection, smoother user experience and huge deployment of Information Technology to drive growth and development of industries,” they argued.
The group recommended that the Nigerian government adopts the 5G network.
“The new networks will come with great potentials that will boost the entire spectrum of Nigeria’s socio economic ecosystem,” it explained. “Adoption of 5G network in Nigeria will bring about transformation in the country in the area of smart city, smart transportation, efficiency in medicine as well as a lot of automation in respect of our appliances and devices with respect to Internet of Things (IoT).”
The group added that “the country will also benefit immensely from the adoption of the network in terms of faster speed, high latency and high capacity that will transform consumer and business experiences because the difference between all other existing generations of technologies such as 2G, 3G and 4G lies in speed and data capacity.”
The experts also advised that information technology and telecommunications be declared as a critical infrastructure to ease broadband strategy.
“Governments at various levels should also intensify their efforts to embrace Information Technology with its attendant potentials of facilitating governance and eradicating corruption in the country.
“The complete adoption of Information Technology as well as migration of government operations from manual to digital will make the country to conform with the benchmark of government operations in the 21st century,” they said
