Lagos Joins 20 Global Cities

Lagos State was yesterday listed among the 20 global cities in the world.

The cities that made the lists would be committed to implementing innovation to improve the lives of 121 million citizens.

The announcement, which was contained in a survey released by LLGA|Cities Pilot, noted that the programme was aimed at discovering and implementing the most promising solutions that meet pressing social and urban challenges.

A statement by the Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Adebiyi Mabadeje, said over the coming 18 months, the initiative would evaluate about 1,000 submissions and implement real-life pilots in all partner cities to improve the quality of life in the cities.

Participating cities vary in population size from less than 100,000 to 21 million. The cities that made to top lists include, Aalborg, Barcelona, Boston, Christchurch, Eindhoven, Fukuoka DC, L'Hospitalet, Lagos, Lavasa, London, Mexico, Oulu, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Rosario, San Francisco, Sant Cugat, Sheffield, Tacoma, Terrassa and York.

Challenges are presented by global cities - in partnership with Oracle, the UN Global Compact Cities Programme and The Climate Group - in areas such as mobility, economic development, social inclusion, health and wellbeing, urban management, lighting, energy, culture, future government and sustainable lifestyles.

"For year 2013 presentation, Lagos is seeking solutions to deliver content seamlessly in bandwidth-challenged environments to provide access to the social and economic benefits of Internet.

"In the past three editions, LLGA has attracted 1,519 entries from 70 countries. By providing systematic market intelligence to decision-makers in cities, the programme has proven to help cities discover innovative solutions that reach citizens three times faster with 80 per cent lower spending," the statement added.

Speaking on the awards, Mabadeje, who is also the Chairman Lagos Innovation Advisory Council, said: " We are once again participating in this programme which seeks to promote innovation in service delivery by tapping into the more than seven billion potential innovators worldwide and hope LLGA will realise the solution that will best resolve our city's challenge".