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| Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajiide Sanwo-Olu (3rd left); Honourable Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources, Mr Olalere Odusote (extreme left); Founder, Eko Innovation Centre, Mr. Victor Afolabi (2nd right); Advisory Board Member, Eko Innovation Centre, Doja Ekeruche (2nd left); Special Adviser on Housing to the Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Toke Benson-Awoyinka (extreme right) at the unveiling of winners of the Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon at Eko innovation Center on Friday, 18 September 2020 |
News
Winners have emerged from the 3 days
finals of Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon organized by the Lagos State Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources, in collaboration
with Eko Innovation Centre. The winners, Team
Power Bit Crunchers from the hardware category and Team Zeena Platform from the
Software category have earned themselves the combined prize money of 10 million
naira. The winners and runners-up will also get working space at Eko Innovation
Centre, while all ten (10) finalists will get mentorship opportunities, among
other consolation prizes.
Mr. Olonma Ibrahim and Peter Okonma represented the
hardware team, while OluwasemiOreoluwa and AdenitireAyonikun represented the
Software Team at the event.
Speaking on the significant of the
initiative at the announcement ceremony at the Eko Innovation Centre, Ikoyi,
Lagos, on Friday, September 18th 2020, the Governor of Lagos State,
Mr. BabajideSanwo-Olu said: “Today is a true hallmark in our administrations
pursuit to improve the welfare of our people. As you are aware, a key pillar of
our administrations T.H.E.M.E.S agenda is to make Lagos a 21st century economy
and this Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon fits perfectly as it combines innovation,
creativity and local capacity to deliver solutions that will improve access to
electricity in Lagos.”
He said further that the settings, the
mood and the aura at the ceremony “inspires creativity and innovation, and that
he saw in the participants vibrant energetic youthfulness “that inspires hope
of brighter and bigger roles that technology and digitization would play in the
country.
Speaking further he said Smart Meter
Initiative “is another demonstration of promise kept” by his administration as
“it aligns with the administrations’ T.H.E.M.E.S agenda to make Lagos a 21st
century economy,” and that the result of the initiative would drive local
capacity that would find home grown solutions to solve our challenges, which
“is a great move in transforming the electricity sector in the state.”
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Deputy
Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat (3rd left); Honourable
Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources, Mr
Olalere Odusote (4th left); Olonma Ibrahim and Peter Okonma of Team Power Bit
Crunchers, winners in the Hardware category (From the left, in Yellow) and
Oluwafemi Oreoluwa and Adenitire Ayomikun of Team Zeena Platform, winners in
the Software category (From the left, in
white) at the unveiling of winners of the Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon at Eko
innovation Center on Friday, 18 September
2020.
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Governor Sanwo-Olu promised that his
administration would continue to support this initiative and that the outcomes
of today’s programme has inspired his administration to do even more to drive
local capacity and find home grown solutions, while taking advantage of global
opportunities to solve our challenges. “The young people in Lagos and Nigeria
have proven to be hardworking and brilliant and we will do all we can to
support them through our various ministries, agencies, enabling policies and
incentives,” he stated.
He encouraged all participants,
especially those that were not declared winners to never give up. “Everyone,”
he said “is a winner, someone must just be declared winner to fulfill all
righteousness.” He urged them to continue to persevere and improve, as his
administration, through mentorship and other incentive, “is always ready and
elated to support and collaborate in creative and innovative ideas that would
improve living standards and grow the economy.”
While making his remarks, the Deputy
Governor, Dr Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat noted that “The Lagos Smart Meter Programme
is an important way for the Lagos government to demonstrate its commitment to
improving access to reliable and affordable smart meters to increase the living
conditions of our people.
“Therefore, Dr.Hamzat continued, “the
Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon which is driving local talents to explore
innovative and affordable ways to deliver smart meters for Lagos and Nigeria is
a key priority for our administration and we truly appreciate the support of
all the sponsors and partners of this initiative.”
Doja Ekeruche,
Advisory Board Member of Eko Innovation Centre, disclosed that curating the
Hackathon is in line with the centre’s purpose of leveraging innovation and
technology in solving poverty and other challenges in Africa. She stated
further that the output of the Hackathon will contribute significantly to
solving the challenges of the power sector, while also serving as an
inspiration to local tech-talents in Nigeria to develop innovative solutions
that will transform the future of Nigeria.
She highlighted
that local solutions are needed to help the country solve its challenges
locally rather than consistently looking for foreign ideas which do not
necessarily fit our local situation. In this vein, she committed that Eko
Innovation Centre would not rest on its oars in unveiling innovative minds and
remains resolute in taking local ideas from concept to commercialisation.
The three-day final was quite revealing and
exciting, and this was reiterated by the judges, participants and attendees. According to Mr. Ade Bajomo, Executive
Director Access, representing the Managing Director, “the great efforts by the
Lagos State Government at improving access to electricity has received a major boost by this initiative. He
said Access Bank would always support creative and innovative ideas. He said he
“is excited as Africans were striving hard to find local solutions to local
problems, leveraging on local solutions. He said “this is a revolution that
should not be missed, and we must all come together to support and nurture.”
On the journey that climaxed in the
finals, winners emerged after a competitive pitch process which saw five
finalists from both hardware and software categories respectively compete for
the combined prize money. Although Lagos state Government initially committed
the sum of 7million Naira to appreciate the winners’ for their efforts before
progressing to commercialization, Mr Governor BabajideSanwo-Olu, Engr. Kola
Balogun, Chairman, MOMAS Electricity Meters Manufacturing Company Limited and
Bunmi Akinyemiju, CEO, Venture Garden Group, all contributed N1 million each to
raise the total prize money to N10 million. Chantelle Abdul, CEO MOJEC
International also contributed N2 million for the runners-up.
Launched on July 30th, 2020 by Lagos
State Governor BabajideOlusolaSanwo-Olu, Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon is an
initiative of the Lagos State Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources is
aimed at providing affordable electricity meters to the populace by
facilitating the design and production of meters that will accelerate efforts
towards achieving improvement in energy distribution, monitoring and prevention
of revenue leakage.
Over 60% of Lagosians and Nigerians are
estimated to be unmetered due to unavailability and the high cost of meter
acquisition. The Lagos State Government is therefore leveraging bright local
talents to design and produce affordable smart electricity meters.
The convener of the Lagos Smart Meter
Hackathon, the Honourable Commissioner for Energy & Mineral Resources,
Lagos State, Mr. OlalereOdusote said that the Hackathon received two hundred
and seventy-four (274) registrations: one hundred and twenty-seven (127) of
which bid in hardware category, while one hundred and forty-seven (147)
competed in software group. Impressively, sixty-five (65) hardware and software
prototypes were submitted by applicants. The shortlisted
five finalists from hardware category were: Cosmo Automation, Smart Energy,
Techwizard, Power Bit Crunchers and Gadozz Electricals, while the five software
finalists were: Vectorians, Zeena Platform, Magnitronics Chosen Soft Tech and
Gideon from Lagos, Enugu, Kaduna, Benin and Oyo State.
Speaking on the high points of their
respective prototype designs, Team Zeena Platform stated that their smart meter
software solution could fix tariffs and usage restrictions to guide electricity
consumption by users. “Administrators can control pricing, check working
meters, energy consumption and perform oversight functions. Our database will
run on blockchain technology and data security of users is assured.” Power Bit
Crunchers, winners in the hardware category team explained that their prototype
smart meter can be monitored and controlled remotely, with additional tamper
proof functionalities which protects against bypass and other fraudulent
activities.
The Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon 2020
received entries from across the country. It was convened by the Lagos State
Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources; curated by Eko Innovation Centre;
sponsored by Access Bank Plc, Egbin Power, Ikeja Electric Distribution Company,
Mojec International, Eko Electric Distribution Company, MOMAS Electricity
Meters Manufacturing Company, ElSewedy Electric, Royal Power & Energy,
Venture Garden Group, InfraCredit, Axxela Limited; and supported by The Lagos
State Office of Innovation and Technology, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund
(LSETF), Africa Fintech Foundry (AFF), the Nigerian Electricity Management
Services Agency (NEMSA), the Nigeria Energy Support Program (NESP) implemented
by the German International Development Corporation (GIZ), Oracle, IBM, General
Electric, Business Day and Accelerate TV.
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