Moshood Adebayo

Barely four days after he signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kano State Government,  Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, has signed another one with  a  United Kingdom firm, to construct 10,000 LED street lights covering 300 kilometres across Lagos State.

The MoU also includes provision of about 500 jobs and construction of an LED lighting and Hybrid Energy Power Assembly Plant in Epe, which is estimated to cost $7 million (about N2.52 billion).

Speaking at the signing ceremony, which  held at Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja, yesterday, Ambode  projected that the deal could be delivered in the next 12 months.

Represented by his Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Olawale Oluwo, the governor said successful commencement of the partnership signposts a positive progress to the Light Up Lagos Project.

This, he said, is a special initiative of his administration composing street lighting, community electrification and embedded power programme.

“With this agreement,  we are signing today, we are setting a new chart for the future of what street lighting, installation, management and control would be like in Lagos. It is a major paradigm shift

“We have about 33,000 street lights in Lagos under the Lagos State Electricity Board. Now, the LED UK, based on this 300km, will give us about 10,000 street lights.

“So, technically, they are going to be having about 31 percent of our entire street light infrastructure and this is a major significant development.

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“The second major significant development is the fact that, as from today (yesterday) onward, what we have with LED UK is what will be replicated to power Lagos with respect to street lighting going forward. 

“As a government, what we are doing is that we are not installing poles, we are not providing security, we are not bothering ourselves with diesel, we are not worried on Fridays and Saturdays about people coming back from clubs knocking down our poles. 

“All those have been outsourced now. We are not going to be worried about that. We just buy light from investment of this LED UK, with all their installations; they manage it, they provide the security, they power it and as long as we see the light, we pay. That is what has changed today,” the governor disclosed.

Earlier, Chief Executive Officer of LED UK Limited, Alan Parker, said his firm was greatly honored to partner with the state government to deliver the project.

He assured that in the next 12 months, a British and Nigerian consortium would work to retrofit major roads in the state with urban regeneration project in Ikoyi, Ikeja and Victoria Island.

“As part of this project, we will be employing over 500 local people here in Lagos and investing $7 million in the construction and setup of a LED lighting and Hybrid Energy Power Assembly Plant here in Epe.

“This facility will offer ground-breaking testing, training and education programs on renewable technologies whilst providing the future for all lighting and hybrid energy power systems in Nigeria.

“These high quality products will be built by Nigerians with the support, experience, knowledge and technology supplied by LED UK for all commercial indoor and outdoor applications for the African market,” Parker assured.