Photo: Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Isola
Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, on Thursday, 30 July 2026, officially unveiled Nigeria’s first enterprise-grade 10 Gigabits-per-second dedicated Smart Campus Network together with the Advanced Technological Incubation and Research Centre (ATIRC) Innovation Hub, marking a major leap in the country’s tertiary education digital infrastructure.
Keynote speaker Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Isola, OFR, former Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (2021–2023), described the project as a moment of national significance that repositions MAPOLY, Ogun State and Nigeria on the map of global digital competitiveness.
In an address titled “Bridging the Global Divide: High-Speed Campus Infrastructure as the Engine for Nigeria’s Global Competitiveness,” Isola told the gathering that the nations that will lead the 21st century will not necessarily be those with the largest populations or deepest natural resources, but those with the fastest, most secure and most intelligently deployed digital networks.
Amb. Isola who was represented at the event said the new infrastructure goes far beyond a simple internet upgrade.
Developed in partnership between MAPOLY and ATIRC, the dedicated 10Gbps network delivers secure, low-latency, high-capacity connectivity capable of supporting thousands of simultaneous users. It creates the foundation for artificial intelligence and machine learning research, high-performance and cloud computing, cybersecurity training, Internet of Things applications, robotics, data science, digital twins, augmented and virtual reality, smart classrooms and real-time global research collaborations.
Isola praised the Rector, Architect Dr. ’Koye Jolaoso, the Governing Council under Emeritus Professor Kamaldeen Balogun, the technical team at ATIRC, and the Ogun State Government led by Governor Dapo Abiodun, CON, for creating the enabling environment that made the achievement possible within a public institution.
Drawing on his diplomatic experience, the former High Commissioner noted that universities in knowledge economies function as anchor institutions for national competitiveness.
He said a functioning high-capacity innovation hub inside a public polytechnic sends a powerful signal to foreign investors and development partners that Nigeria is not merely a market, but a partner capable of co-creating value. “Infrastructure is diplomacy by other means,” he declared.
Addressing students, Isola said the new network removes the long-standing excuse of inadequate access. “You now have the tools that your counterparts in Lagos, London, Nairobi and Bangalore possess. Bandwidth without ambition produces nothing. What this network offers is opportunity; what you must supply is discipline, curiosity and the courage to build.”
He urged academic staff to recalibrate their research ambitions and pursue international partnerships, and called on industry and investors to engage the Smart Campus and ATIRC Hub through sponsored research, internship pipelines and direct investment in emerging start-ups.
Isola further appealed to policymakers at state and federal levels, including the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, to study the MAPOLY model and replicate it across Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
He stressed that the country’s global competitiveness will be decided not only in Abuja or Lagos, but in institutions that quietly build the human and technical capacity no external partnership can replace.
“We are not merely commissioning cables, routers and servers today,” Isola concluded. “We are commissioning possibility. Let this Smart Campus Network and the ATIRC Innovation Hub be remembered not simply as infrastructure switched on in July 2026, but as the moment a generation of Nigerian students was handed the tools to build a future worthy of their talent.”
The ceremony was attended by senior government officials, traditional rulers, industry leaders, development partners, the academic community, the press and students of the polytechnic.
