Residents urge LASG to extend street lights to inner roads
NAN-HE-1
Lights
By Raji Rasak and Yunus Yusuf
Lagos, Aug. 22, 2017 (NAN) Some residents in Lagos metropolis have appealed to the Lagos State Government to extend its “Light Up Lagos’’ project to roads in all communities in the state to check criminal activities.
The Lagos Light Up Project was started in 2007 under former Gov. Babatunde Fashola to install street lights on roads across Lagos State.
The residents made the appeal in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday against the backdrop of recent reports of increasing cases of crime.
NAN correspondents, who have been monitoring the street light project in Lagos, reported that street lights installed along major roads in Lagos metropolis were working except for few poles that had been destroyed.
Street lights have been installed along Constain-Eko Bridge to Marina, Epe-Mushin to Onipetesi-Ijuode road, Somolu-Bariga, Salami-Saibu, Onisemo -Shipeolu, Oguntolu-Mushin-Agege Motor road, Kofose-Ogudu-Ikorodu road and Ikorodu-Hospital road.
Other roads that have street lights are Orile- Mile 2 road, Aguda -Adetola road, Ijeshatedo-Itire, Lawanson-Itire road, Ojuelegba-Fadeyi road and Obalende-Ikoyi road.
Street lights have also been installed along streets in adjoining towns of Lekki, Epe and Sango.
For motorists, it has been easy ride at nights along the Third Mainland Bridge to Ikeja, Ojodu-Berger to Iyana-Oworonshoki, Murtala Muhammed Airport Road and Okota through Isolo to Ikotun.
The skylines are now brilliantly lit at night in Lagos Central Business District, Ejigbo, Ipaja, Ayobo, Ishefun, Aiyetoro, Oshodi, among others.
The street lights are being powered by the state Independent Power Projects, LASG Solar Project and power generating sets.
The state government relied on the five gas-powered Independent Power Projects at Akute, Alausa, Mainland, Island and Lekki to service the streetlights and some public facilities.
A community leader in Epe, Mr Kaka Salami, said the streetlights had helped to address the problems of insecurity in the areas, but urged government to extend them to inner roads.
According to him, many people move about at nights, but the issue of insecurity has always brought in some trepidation as a result of the darkness.
Mr Eniola Taiwo, a resident in Ijeshatedo in Surulere Local Government area, however, said that the street lights in Itire- Ijeshatedo, which was installed in 2010, had not been restored since 2014 when the lights went bad.
Taiwo urged the state government to look into the matter and restore the lights as the situation had thrown the area into darkness and created opportunity for hoodlums to attack innocent persons.
Alhaji Anifowoshe Ibrahim, a resident of Somolu, said that anyone who appreciated beauty would appreciate the effect of streetlights at night in the area.
“But my worry is that the hoodlums may tamper with them. You can see how they have destroyed aluminum and steel railings on pedestrian bridges.
“My plea is that government that has begun this beautiful work, should also provide security that would check vandalism,” he said.
Alhaji Olalekan Bashir, a community leader in Bariga, advised members of the community to show more than passing interest in the project.
“It is a good thing; we are beginning to see the dividends of democracy in this area.
“A way of sustaining this development is to engage community policing in protecting this infrastructure.
“The Neighbourhood Watch, the Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) and the police should be empowered to prevent vandals from stealing street light cables in any part of the state,” he said.
An official of the Lagos State Electricity Board (LSEB), who preferred anonymity, told NAN that streetlights installed in all the local government areas were working, except those that were being worked on.
According to the source, about 72 public schools, 11 public hospitals and clinics and public institutions are being powered through the intervention of LSEB under the state Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
The source said that the affected schools were mostly boarding schools in riverine areas and in remote places.
“The state engaged local vigilante groups, CDAs and the Police to ensure the facilities are not destroyed and where they are, culprits are handed over to the police.
“The challenges of maintaining streetlights include vandalism by miscreants, power theft whereby people tap the street lights for use in their homes, hostility of local communities.
“Our sources of power are generators and Independent Power Plants.
“Illumination of streets and public places, especially crime prone areas and high density areas, check the cover of darkness under which criminals and hoodlums operate,’’ he said.
The source said that over 500 kilometres of road network across various locations in different local governments are benefitting from the street light project.
The Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, said the street light project was part of government’s promise of building a 24/7 economy that would create employment and wealth for the people.
Ambode assured residents that his administration would ensure that no part of the state was left out in the Light Up Lagos Initiative. (NAN)
ROR/YO/IKU/TA
Edited by Tayo Ikujuni/Tajudeen Atitebi