• Says spending N700m monthly on diesel not sustainable
Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, has said the state government hopes to improve the powering of street lights in 2024, disclosing that it has started working on alternatives as spending N700 million on diesel to power the street lights is not sustainable
Speaking with journalists at the weekend, Omotoso said: “The issue of street lights is that you may not know how much is being put into ensuring that Lagos streets are not in darkness. The kind of system that we have in place before today cannot continue, using diesel to power street lights. Today, the cost of a litre of diesel is not what we had about three to four years ago, where we have to spend about N700 million just to power street lights in a month.
“It doesn’t make sense at all. What the government has been trying to do is retrofitting the streetlights. We are also trying to use gas, some of the street lamps have been changed to gas and we are also trying to use solar systems.
“If you look at it, the number of street lights that we have in Lagos have increased because there is no new road that we are building that has no street lights.”
The commissioner also said some of its iconic projects expected to be completed this year would ease traffic congestion across the state. Omotoso listed the projects as the Red Line Rail, the Opebi-Ojota Link Bridge, 15 ferry jetties and the acquisition of 12 ferries to join the existing fleet of state-owned ferries.
While he was optimistic that the Opebi Link Bridge will ease traffic around the Ikorodu Road and Maryland corridor, he said the Red Line Rail project would reduce the about three-hour travel time on road from Iddo to Agbado to about 35 minutes.
MEANWHILE, Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Mr Olanrewaju Ibrahim Layode, yesterday, said the state has every reason to appreciate God and be grateful for His faithfulness in 2023 through praise and worship.
Speaking at the Lagos State 2024 yearly thanksgiving, themed: “The righteous shall praise your name,” Layode added that it was important to appreciate God for what He did in 2023 so that He would perfect all that concerns the state in 2024 and for continued mercy.
According to him, the state has every reason for thanksgiving because several impactful projects were completed in 2023. He listed several of the projects completed and commissioned in 2023 to include the Blue Rail line, the Ikeja and Yaba overpass bridges, among others. He also said that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is not relenting and has promised to leave no stone unturned in executing programmes and projects that would lead to the prosperity of the residents.
