Stakeholders in the nation’s telecommunications space have disagreed over the adoption of Nigeria use case for 5G deployment, arguing that it is tall order going by our level of technological advancement.
Engr. Olusola Teniola, president, Association Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), had advocated Nigeria adopting its own use cases for 5G deployment.
According to him “technology should be used to solve pertinent problems and in Nigeria case we have many idiosyncratic issues we need to solve using our own local talents, knowledge and patriotic will. The technologies that are layered over 5G and 6G will be able to be adapted and deployed to solve very complex problems and as such the solutions should address the problems to the benefit of the Nigerian citizens”.
On whether the country can develop applications required for 5G deployments, Teniola said: “Most definitely. We are encouraged by the recognisable talent being displayed by the youths in the area of data science, IoT applications, analytics and Artificial Intelligence and of course the burgeoning and universal Nollywood and musical talent that exists. The content created once digitized should be patented and IPRed so that it generates revenue both locally and internationally.
He added that the implication of not adopting its use case is that: “The data generated is what I mean by adopting our own Use Cases and applications tailored to our environment, local dialect and culture! This is really important as the future power of technology is where the prosperity lies. The knowledge and data are the new currency. The application of technology is the catalyst that will drive economic growth for any nation and will be traded internationally as contribution to the global digital race.”
Responding to this view, Engr. Samuel Adeleke, managing director, Steineng Ltd, said that 5G is far faster in usage and was developed to cater for big data where we have and use data from social media, car sensor among other sources.
“Amount of data that we analysize is big which affects the speed of 4G hence 5G development. In the age of data analytics that gave rise to 5G.
“But who is in the lead has become important because of the potential of the person becoming the biggest economy. Who start it will be the first.
“For Nigeria to adopt its own use cases for now in 5G is tall order going by our level of technological advancement. Anybody that wants to run will have to craw and then stand, walk before running. We are crawling presently. It is the application of physics and mathematics that we call engineering or technology which we have not understood.
“There is no research in the country where technologies can be developed; we must understand technology before we can contribute to the world’s technological advancement. Our educational system is faulty which is supposed to assist us to understand technology,” he stated.