Nigeria tech enthusiasts can exploit $150bn drone market

BY ONOME AMUGE

The global market of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), commonly known as drones, has continued to experience exponential growth and is projected to hit $150 billion by 2035 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 percent, creating an avenue for Nigerian tech enthusiasts to exploit the huge market for job and wealth creation.

Fortune Idu, the chairman of DRONETECX, Nigeria’s foremost drone technology conference and exhibition, made the assertion during the second edition of the annual event held at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.

Idu, who described the drone application as a game changer with huge potential to create jobs in software and hardware engineering and virtually every sector, added that increased adoption would empower them to deliver speed, efficiency and cost effective services.

Speaking on the need for participants to tap into the opportunities offered by the exhibition, the DRONETECX chairman explained that the current millennium has seen the evolvement of various disruptive technologies from internet, GSM, robotic, artificial intelligence, space travel and liberalisation which are gradually redefining the way people do things and will in the near future direct every aspect of human existence.

Corroborating Idu’s statement, Akin Olateru, the commissioner, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) enjoined the government to simplify the approval processes for the importation and deployment of drone facilities in the country as it would lead to the growth and development of the nation, especially in terms of technology advancement.

Highlighting some of the benefits of drone application in Nigeria, Olateru explained that drones could be used for security of restricted areas like the perimeter fences in the country’s airports, creating the need for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to invest in the technology for improved security.

“As it is, Nigeria is still not thinking in the areas drones can be useful to its economy. Drone is used in several sectors like agriculture, medicine, traffic and others. There are lots of jobs that

Olateru further challenged Nigerians, especially the youths, to invest in research and development in order to meet up with the other countries whose technology had given them a huge opportunity to grow.