As far as government driven innovation goes, Governor Babatunde Fashola has been innovating before innovation became cool. Most visibly, Fashola was perhaps the earliest adopter of “technology” among his public office ilk, having joined Twitter for more than three years.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkrpqyLrp4g?rel=0&w=640&h=360]

But his willingness to embrace new mediums of communication and citizen engagement were merely the tip of the iceberg of other innovative goings-on. In a video interview with Tunde Kelani, The governor traces the beginnings of Lagos state’s dalliance with innovation to a meeting with Harvard professor, Calestous Juma, whom according to his Wikipedia page

is an internationally recognized authority in the application of science and technology to sustainable development worldwide.

CcHub Broadband i-hq

That meeting three years ago led to the subsequent formation of the Lagos Innovation Council and the Innovate Lagos Project. The same people who are partnering the Co-Creation Hub and MainOne to turn Yaba into a literal information superhighway, via high speed internet.

In October 2012, Lagos was in the running to be named the Most Innovative City In The World, having been nominated along with 24 other global cities.

According to governor Tunde Fashola, Innovate lagos targets a partnership between the government, private sector and academia to unlock economic opportunities for the people.

Bankole Oluwafemi Author

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