With proper application, developing economies, including Nigeria, can apply big data to solve fundamental socio-economic problems, particularly the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the MTN Nigeria’s Chief Transformation Officer, Olubayo Adekanmbi, has said.
Speaking at the just concluded Information Technology Conference (ITC) in Abuja, which was organised by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Adekanmbi posited that nations that intelligently apply big data have commensurate growth in their Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Speaking on the theme of the conference tagged: “Fostering Digital Economy through Local Content Development and Effective Regulations,” Adekanmbi said: “Big data can be applied to tremendous effects. For instance, it has been linked to multiple uses in infectious disease tracking, weather management, agricultural yield optimisation, precision policing, human migration, governance, urban planning, emergency response, intelligent transport network and many others.”
He, however, cautioned on the importance of data security, customer privacy, and anonymisation for information sanitisation and privacy protection for effective use of aggregated data for social good.
Adekanmbi leveraged the platform to reinforce how MTN Nigeria uses the power of intelligent aggregation to transform the Nigerian music industry by creating easy-to-use, on-demand music which has been most profitable for the practitioners in the Music industry. “With data comes information and with information comes knowledge. Good knowledge powers decisions that deliver results and when we commit to using big data in a most logical way, we can transform industries, society, and the world at large,” he said.
He wrapped up his address by commending the Government’s planned open data policy and how it would aid the private sector in strategic planning and increasing investment levels in Nigeria.
The conference was declared open by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, who stated that a renewed focus in ICT has yielded positive effects on the Nigerian economy; citing examples of the Biometric Verification Number (BVN) and Treasury Single Account (TSA) exercises.
Meanwhile, in Lagos, last weekend, the South African firm won multiple awards at the Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) organised Nigerian Tech Innovation and Telecom Awards (NTITA) 2017.
In addition to being named the Most Valuable Brand by Top 50 Brands Nigeria for the second consecutive year, MTN won the ‘Mobile Operator of the Year’; the prestigious ‘LTE/4G Provider of the Year’, and ‘Customer Experience” awards; and the ‘Innovative Project of the Year’ award for the innovative Lumos Mobile Electricity Service powered by MTN.
Expressing appreciation, Corporate Relations Executive, MTN, Tobechukwu Okigbo, said: “We are honoured by this recognition, and would like to acknowledge the role of our customers, communities, partners, policy makers and peers who champion excellence and persistently challenge us to do more and be better. From the bottom of our hearts we say thank you! These awards belong to all of us.”
MTN also received awards for Best Innovation and Corporate Social Responsibility from the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) Awards for Marketing Excellence.
Okigbo added: “We are overjoyed to have received such overwhelming recognition in these highly competitive awards, and commend the organisers for maintaining such credible recognition platforms.”
