Lare Ayoola, Executive Chairman of Internet of Things (IoT) Africa has said Nigeria’s energy sector can save at least 40 percent of its losses if there are structural technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT).
Over the years, Nigeria’s energy sector has been plagued with a series of challenges ranging from losses, risks, and theft, a development that is bleeding Africa’s biggest economy several billion dollars.
To change this narrative, Ayoola hopes that the adoption of IoT will help scrape out the challenges encountered by most stakeholders in the energy sector, just like their international counterparts.
According to Pennsylvania – based research institute, IoT refers to the interconnection of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data, through the internet.
Ayoola stated that in no time IoT Africa will announce mega-deals with major energy companies which are expected to change the narrative in Nigeria’s energy sector.
According to market analysis on the overall enterprise IoT market, spending on enterprise IoT solutions grew 12.1 percent in 2020 to $128.9 billion.
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IoT Africa, a subsidiary of Tranter IT, has built the first phase of its IoT network last year making the technology available in states like Lagos which is fully covered with IoT networks, Ogun, Rivers, and the FCT.
“The good news is that the network has been very stable. We have tested it with numerous devices and we found out that the connectivity is excellent. We are about to move into the next phase where we will be covering the rest of the country and that will start within the next two to three months,” Ayoola said.
The industries keen on the adoption of IoT include agriculture, logistics, power, manufacturing, financial services, health, and safety industry, real estate, and importantly the oil and gas industry.
Ayoola stated that beyond oil and gas, IoT also holds prospects for financial services in terms of safety and security. “For instance, most banks that have a smoke alarm system are not able to transmit information effectively when there is a fire outbreak”.
Also, many banks are not always aware that an ATM has gone bad, they are not always aware that the batteries that provide the uninterrupted power supply are at a dangerously low level.
Citing an illustration, Ayoola said, “there was a case in one of the banks where there was a power outage and the UPS kicked in. The technician who knew how to start the generator was not available, and a staff member tried to fill in.”
He added, “the generator did not start, the batteries in the UPS died. Had there been IoT sensors installed in that data center to monitor the battery of the UPS. From that incident, they would have also had data to analyse and prevent that sort of problem in the future.”
One important aspect of using IoT Africa’s solutions is the longevity of the battery. Most of the devices last for three years, many are five years, some eight and ten years. IoT Africa plans to complete phase two of its network in the next two or three months. This will ensure it scales its IoT technology across Nigeria.
In recognition of its efforts in pushing the adoption of the internet of things in Nigeria, Tranter IT the parent company of IoT Africa received the ‘Outstanding IoT Provider of the Year Award’ at the Titans of Tech awards ceremony held recently in Lagos, Nigeria.
