Lagos, UK Firm sign N2.5bn MoU to deliver 10,000 Street Lighting Project

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

The Lagos State Government on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU with Low Energy Designs, LED UK to deliver 10,000 street lights in some parts of the metropolis, with the investor committing N2.5 billion ($7 million) to the project.

The agreement was signed at the State House, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and the Chief Executive Officer, LED UK, Alan Parker.

The street lighting project will run across 300km in three areas- Ikoyi, Ikeja and Victoria Island.

Speaking at the signing of the agreement, Ambode said with the MoU, the government was setting a new chart for the future of what street lighting, installation, management and control would be like in Lagos, as the agreement represented 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 per cent of our entire street light infrastructure and this is a major significant development.

“The second major significant development is the fact that as from today onward, what we have with LED UK is what will be replicated to power Lagos with respect to street lighting going forward. So now, there will be no fixed cost anymore that the government is going to bear, all costs are now variable,” said Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Wale Oluwo.

According to Ambode “what we are doing is that we are not installing poles, we are not providing security, we are not bordering 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 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.”

He said government embraced the project and would ensure that the execution would be seamless and also ensured that government got maximum benefit that the programme was designed to deliver.

Speaking, Parker said LED had a long working history with Nigeria, supplying LED lighting throughout Lagos State dating back over 10 years, saying that these same installations and original pilot projects could be seen today still working and delivering on its promises to improve the environmental sustainability, provide energy savings, reduce the maintenance costs to the public lighting power budget.

He said as part of this project, LED would be employing over 500 Lagosians and investing over $7 million in the construction and setting up of a LED Lighting and Hybrid Energy Power Assembly Plant in Epe.

“This facility will offer ground breaking test, training and education programme on renewable technologies while providing the future for all lighting and hybrid energy power systems in Nigeria. These high quality product 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,” he said.