Independent 20170816-readme.ng

C8
Since signing an agreement
with the City of
Dubai by the Lagos
State Government in
June, 2016 on the development
of the Lagos Smart City, many
people have been wondering
what a smart city would look
like. Ironically Lagos itself
is believed to be one heck of
a smart city where only the
‘smart ones’ survive –you have
to be smart to get on a bus and
even when you are on a BRT
queue as we have it today, you
could still be outsmarted by
a crafty lone ranger in a split
of a second; On top of that
you have to be pretty smart
to earn a decent living in this
ever-buzzing city; Other times
you have to turn your gear to
smart if you must beat the crazy
traffic in the shortest possible
time, else you spend long
hours ‘snailing’ down the road
with puckered brow and lest
you forget, you have to be extremely
smart to find your way
around without getting lost.
But Smart homes/cities are
not restricted to Lagos alone.
So what then makes a smart
city in an already ‘smart’ city
an interesting concept?
Here is why. The smart city
concept is one that thrives on
intelligence, sophistication and
automation. It’s not the typical
hustle and bustle kind of ‘smart’
some of us are already used to. It’s
smartness with ease, flexibility
and simplicity. With the magic
of a small device on your hand,
your building is almost entirely
under your control even when
you are nowhere near. Perhaps
/<strong>Independent</strong>ngr @independentngr www.independent.ng INDEPENDENT WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2017
Real Estate
You Don’t Have To Live In Smart City To Live Smart
Illustration of a smart city
the only thing you still may not
be able to do is to physically move
the house to your friend’s place.
Simply put, Smart City consists
of Smart buildings and Smart
infrastructure. Smart homes/
offices used to be the exclusive
privilege of those in the top echelon
of the society but as it is now,
there is something for the low and
middle class.
Technology is for the benefit
of everyone, irrespective of class,
gender and race. In fact technology
may be threatened with extinction
if it is only restricted to
a set of people. By building smart
cities, the options are opened to
people of all status to have a
stake, even if it’s just as little. A
square-Metre of space in a smart
home/city is generally safer and
comfortable to live in than 1001
square-Metre of space in a dull
or boorish home/city. Are you
pondering what I am pondering?
Apart from the automation side
of smart homes, they are often
very elegant, exquisitely finished
and customized to suit individual
preferences of taste and lifestyle.
Never mind, I perceive you are
thinking about power issues. In
a country where public power
supply continues to make a false
of people’s high hopes, I very
well understand your fears. But
come to think of it, you would be
surprised that for smart home
concepts, even power respects
technology. Smart home devices
are often designed as low-power
consumers and can be powered
by off-grid solutions. Most of
these devices can power themselves
by relying on simple solar
radiations.
In a typical smart home, with a
press of a set of buttons or clicks
on wi-fi enabled hand-held or virtual
remotes respectively, you control
all windows and doors within
the building, including opening
and closing of the gate and skylights
in the roof from virtually
any location. Users can also monitor
and control activities within
the house on their
mobile devices;
making it easier for
working class parent
to keep tab on
their kids at home
while they are away.
Smart homes can
be customized to
recognize the occupiers
of a building
and their pets and
automatically allow
them gain access
at any time while
denying access to
strangers and even
blowing an alarm
when there is an
intruder. Smart
building can welcome
you in with
your favorite song
playing in background
mood and
bid you goodbye
by responding with
a go-come tune. The
heating, ventilating and air-conditioning
(HVAC) system can be
automatically adjusted to suit
your desired temperatures and
humidity levels using the same
simple device. It can help control
taps, switches and security alarm
system; you can turn the entire
space to night mode at night and
even switch off all devices when
you are away. So don’t wait till
the Smart City is fully built. Go
smart already.
Engr. Osaz’ Enobakhare, is
an award-winning contractor,
structural engineer and the
CEO of Heavens Contractors
Ltd.
08167394799
LAWMA And Poor Waste Management Practices In Lagos
In this photo taken Friday, Jan, 24. 2014, a scavenger in Lagos, Nigeria sorts out iron and plastic to sell at
the Olusosun dump site, the city's largest dump.
AP PHOTO
In June, Lagos State Governor,
Akinwunmi Ambode launched
CLI – an abbreviation for Cleaner
Lagos Initiative and the Lagos
Environmental Sanitation Corps,
LAGESC, to alleviate the problem
of environmental pollution in Lagos
state. In this article, we look
at the poor waste management
practices in Lagos that led to the
introduction of CLI and LAGESC
in line with world practices.
Lagos has been described as the
largest waste-generating state in
the country, as over 15,000 metric
tonnes of waste is believed to be
generated in the state every day, as
a result poor management practices
in Lagos cannot be overlooked
or condoned.
In 2007, the Lagos Waste Management
Authority was instituted
to tackle the worrisome and health
threatening menace of waste in
the state which had already become
an environmental nuisance
at the time.
LAWMA was created by law to
ensure proper collection and disposal
of waste in the Lagos metropolis,
and invariably, improve
the poor waste management practices
in Lagos state . Though there
has been an improvement since
they began operations but there
still seems to be a void somewhere.
In recent times, the ineptitude
of LAWMA has been put on the
front burner. There is now an increasing
chain of refuse dumps
in most parts of the state ahead
of the start-off date of the newly
inaugurated CLI.
Even some residences of the
state have not been spared of the
refuse ‘takeover’. Lagosians now
dispose refuse indiscriminately,
has was the norm several years
ago which spells doom for a city
with over 21 million inhabitants.
For a state that survived the
Ebola outbreak that reared its
ugly head three years ago, another
outbreak of a health hazard of
any kind will be pushing our luck
too far.
Accusing fingers point to various
directions; some blame the
government for its mismanagement,
others blame the waste
management authorities while
the people have not been exonerated
either.
Albeit wherever the pendulum
swings, the most important thing
is not to trade blames but to find
solutions to a deteriorating situation
and in turn bring sanity to
a city that has been named the
fastest growing in Africa.
Arguably, the indiscriminate
dumping of refuse in many nooks
and crannies of the state may have
even been responsible for the flood
disaster that plagued the Lagos Island,
and more disaster could be
in the offing if necessary steps are
not taken to bring the environmental
nuisance to an end.
It has now become common
knowledge that LAWMA has not
been efficient in its duties with
their inconsistencies and untimeliness
Though their task doesn’t come
easy and the environmental activities
of Lagosians don’t make the
situation any better, however they
are supposedly paid handsomely
for their efforts. Invariably, to
whom much is given, much is
required.
Citizens are billed and residences
are sealed when the needful
is not done, hence this must be
followed by swift running of the
duties they’ve been saddled with.
If citizens still go on to dump
refuse in canals, drainages, rivers,
along the streets and even on highways
then the activities of LAW-
MA should be questioned without
mincing words.
The ban of the monthly environmental
sanitation I suppose
was done with good intentions,
but we still don’t see the justification.
It is no longer in doubt that
our cities are inundated with the
challenges of un-cleared solid
wastes.
In addition, the hue and cry
over the health consequences of
exposed and fermenting rubbish
have not been quantified, although
their impact is noticeable
The question then is; for how
long will Lagos continue to fight
to clear mounting heaps of solid
waste from their environment.
Our strategic centers of beauty,
peace and security are being overtaken
by the messy nature of over
flowing dumps, unattended heaps
of solid wastes emanating from
household or domestic or kitchen
sources, markets, shopping and
business centers.
Debo Adejana, MD, RealtyPoint
Limited
08059100256