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NITDA highlights benefits of 5G in agric, transportation, others

As Nigeria prepares to join other countries of the world in deploying 5G technology, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has identified key sectors that will benefit immensely from the technology. According to the Director- General of the agency, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa, 5G will lead growth in specific industries such as healthcare, transportation, retail, agriculture, manufacturing, and logistics among others. Speaking at the 2020 edition of the Nigeria ICT Impact CEO Forum (NIICF) with the theme, 5G: “The Future is Here,” Inuwa said industries were expected to see major benefits from the 5G upgrade whether their goal is to increase revenue opportunities or improve customer experiences.

“For instance, 5G healthcare use cases will enable doctors and patients to stay more connected than ever. Wearable devices could alert healthcare providers when a patient is experiencing symptoms, automatic alerts to ER cardiologists to be ready for an incoming patient, with a complete record of data collected on a smart device,” he said.

The DG, who was represented at the event by the Director, E-government at NITDA, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, said farms of the future would use more data and fewer chemicals. “Taking data from sensors located directly in fields, farmers can identify with a pinpoint precision which areas need water, have a disease, or require pest management.

“As wearables become less expensive, 5G will make it easier to scale networks containing large numbers of IoT devices in fields, health monitoring for livestock may also emerge. With more accurate health data, farmers can reduce the use of antibiotics without compromising the safety of the food supply,” he said. In the retail sector, Inuwa said stores of tomorrow may no longer look like today’s aisles of stocked shelves, adding that they may also use 5G to manage inventory and stocking in real-time.

“Factory floors can be trans-formed by the convergence of 5G, AI, and IoT. Beyond predictive maintenance that helps control costs and minimize downtime, factories also use 5G to control and analyze industrial processes with an unprecedented degree of precision. With the connectivity boost provided by 5G, manufacturers can also change traditional quality assurance processes, streamlining them with sensor technology and AI.

“In shipping and logistics, keeping track of inventory is expensive, slow, and difficult. 5G offers the potential for greater communication among vehicles, as well as between vehicles and infrastructure itself. Fleet monitoring and navigation will become significantly easier at scale with 5G. Driver navigation could potentially be powered with an augmented reality system that identifies and flags potential hazards without diverting a driver’s attention away from the road.

“The transportation industry, ranging from public buses to private logistic fleets, is a sector that could benefit greatly from the introduction of next-generation wireless networks. Governments, technology companies, and transport operators can take advantage of 5G to efficiently manage aviation operations where mission-critical realtime communications are required, efficient management of traffic on our roads, effective communications on the train especially in the remote areas. 5G is able to stay connected to devices travelling up to 500km/h allowing it to be used on planes, trains, and other future high-speed vehicles,” he added.

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