Cost of maintaining streetlights Unsustainable – Akeredolu's aide

Residents of Akure, the Ondo state capital will have to exercise more patience and continue to endure experiences of the old days whereby major roads are without streetlights as the state government has opened up that it can no longer afford payment of huge amount of money to fuel streetlights in the state.

During former governor Olusegun Mimiko’s administration ,the city of Akure witnessed unprecedented illumination of major streets with streetlights from dusk till dawn, a project sustained during his eight years in government.

The development boosted socio-economic activities of residents especially traders and motorists and as well reduced crime rates on major roads of the state capital.

Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu also sustains the operation of the street Lights until recently when many of them stopped working.

Streetlights along Oba Adesida road, Ondo road , Arakale and Oba – Ile roads are no longer switched on for weeks while few ones along Fiwasaye grammar school road to Agbogbo road are not epileptic.

The development led to reactions including the social media as residents wondered why the current government has been inconsistent in sustaining the streetlights.

In an exclusive interview with ROVING REPORTERS, the Special Adviser to Governor Akeredolu on Public Utility, Mr Tunji Light Ariyo said the government could no longer sustain the cost of buying diesel to power the street light because it gulped huge amount of money.

Mr Ariyo however said though the government was aware of the epileptic illumination of major streets in Akure ,government was working for an alternative source of powering the streetlights.

He said “We inherited some of these infrastructures when we came on board and we have also added to these infrastructures. In fact, if you travel to Owo town, and here in Akure, along Fiwasaye to Agbogbo filling station, you will see abandoned street lights that have been rehabilitated by the arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu’s administration.

However, we ,currently,do not generate electricity on our own, which means we depend on public source of electricity to energise our streetlights.

It is unfortunate that the distribution company BEDC that is operational in our own region has not been very effective ,even when Mr governor directed that they must now transfer street lights to dedicated lines, it has been all promises ,but no action as far as the agency of the federal government is concerned.

What we have now done is to put our own in motion,activities that can crystallise into our own independent power plants, and as i speak to you,governor Akeredolu’s administration in collaboration with private sector partners are building a 15 megawatts power plant in Alagbaka.

The first component of four megawatts is already under construction. We are also taking steps as directed by governor Akeredolu that subsequent new installations of streetlights must be solar powered so as to reduce the operational cost that is currently costing or hindering us from enjoying our streetlights.

We have been powering ,using alternative fuel when we could not get public source and it is very expensive, diesel is very expensive and that’s what you have observed .

It is not that everything is down but it is as a result of challenges with finance as far as diesel payment settlement is concerned but we are getting out of it.

If you come in the night, all streetlights in Alagbaka are working. If you also check Agbogbo from Fiwasaye, they are on. The ones that are not switched on are in Oba Adesida and Ondo roads and that is the ones we are working on so that there can be light at night. ”