As many Nigerians across the country continue to grapple with the chaos of urban living, a new solution is quietly revolutionising the way Lagos residents and other adjourning communities navigate their city.
In the heart of the bustling Balogun market, where traders and customers once spent countless hours searching for parking, a quiet but impactful change is underway.
Our correspondent investigation revealed how market women and traders alike, who used to lose precious morning hours circling for parking, now pull up directly to available spots, thanks to an easy to use innovative smart parking system that has transformed their daily routines.
This innovation is the brainchild of Vikram Pasupuleti, an Indian data engineer and IoT expert whose personal journey from the crowded streets of India led to the creation of data engineering solutions reshaping commercial cities like Lagos, Nigeria.
According to the data expert “Growing up in India, I experienced firsthand the frustrations of overcrowded cities—missed opportunities, lost time, and the stress of congestion, but I also saw immense potential,” Vikram explains to our correspondent.
“Our smart parking system isn’t just about convenience—it’s about unlocking Lagos’s full economic and social potential, one parking space at a time.”
But Vikram’s vision extends beyond parking into creating solutions for the healthcare sector through supply chain efficiency.
The impact of his technology is seen at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), where efficient parking has improved emergency response times. Mrs Alabi, senior nurse notes, “In our fight against tropical diseases, timing is everything.”
“This system helps us predict patient influx and ensure critical medicines reach our patients when needed, especially pregnant women and the elderly.”
“What makes this system unique is its adaptation to the city’s specific needs—it considers our market days, religious celebrations, and even traffic patterns that affect supply and delivery. Our customers are happy because they face one less hurdle, Parking!” says Chijioke Benedict, an electronics trader at Computer Village, Lagos.
“Technology is good when it solves real problems,” he says in Igbo, “and this one truly helps us.”
Commending what he described as Vikram’s noble solution, Akin Olatunji, a representative of the Lagos Market Traders Association, remarked, “This is more than just a parking system—it’s a lifeline for traders like us. Time is money, and this technology has given us back both. Our traders can now focus on growing their businesses instead of wasting hours searching for parking.”
Echoing this sentiment, Esther Ogedengbe, an official from the nonprofit organization Urban Lagos Initiative, which advocates for sustainable urban development, commended the innovation. “This system is a game-changer for a city like Lagos,”
“Not only does it ease the daily stress of residents, but it also reduces traffic congestion and pollution. Innovations like this are exactly what Lagos needs to stay ahead as Africa’s fastest-growing megacity.”
With Lagos’s population growing rapidly at over 500,000 new residents annually, Vikram’s innovations offer hope for a more organized future.
His work demonstrates that indigenous technology solutions, when properly adapted to local conditions, can help solve some of our most pressing urban challenges.
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