History was made in West Africa’s world of IT exhibition as the just concluded Techplus 2016 recorded twelve thousand delegate registrations, with over one billion cross-platform digital impressions. From the record number of registrants, the event achieved about 70 percent attendance with eight thousand attendees converging to learn from a record number of Ninety seasoned Speakers/Panelists lined up for the 3 day event.
Participants also exploited huge opportunities created by the conference for networking and exchange of ideas.
The relevance of this annual conference was unveiled at the opening ceremony by Dr. Omobola Johnson, Chairperson Alliance for Affordable Internet. Speaking at an event many participants tagged “Africa’s biggest technology conference”, Dr Johnson stated that developments in technology are fundamentally altering the way people live, connect, communicate and transact. These developments, in her view, have had profound effects on economic development in Nigeria and Africa at large. According to her, to promote tech advancement, developing countries should invest in quality education for youth, continuous skills training for workers and managers; for all stakeholders to understand the importance of the continuous revolution”.
Another dignitary who spoke at the event was Lagos State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Olufemi Odubiyi. He noted that access and application of technology has become quite critical in today’s society. He also stressed that service and technology are the differentiators between countries that are able to tackle poverty effectively by growing and developing their economies, and those that are lagging behind. The commissioner was represented by Mr. JideAdenuga, Director of Computer Service in the State
The Managing Director of Connect Marketing Services, organizers of the event, Mr. Tunji Adeyinka, noted that, TechPlus has come at the right time to tap into the buzz surrounding technology in the country. His words; “We see our platform as a catalyst which will bring together the entire ecosystem together. When we started we were looking to create a platform that would allow companies, individuals and businesses in the tech space to bring together customers, clients and for all players to showcase their products and services. Before now, we had lots of talk shops, but this event is meant to be a practical opportunity to talk about technology and feel the impact that technology has on different parts of our lives.”
The theme for this year’s event was ‘A Connected World’. This couldn’t have come at a more auspicious time as Cisco had predicted there will be 20.8 billion connected devices by 2020. TechPlus 2016 remarkably highlighted the increasing connecting nature of the world and identified Nigeria’s role in this new global reality through a variety of different ‘tracks’.
From government’s increasing commitment to the development of the ICT sector, to the rapid emergence of innovation hubs and incubators across the country, it is clear that technology is on the brink of revolutionizing the African continent and TechPlus is gravitating towards becoming a key part of this great effort.
