The absence of streetlights along the Ikeja roundabout/Oba Akran Road corridor is constituting a security threat to pedestrians, motorists, and other road users on that axis.

From the Ikeja General Hospital Roundabout, through the Ikeja Roundabout Flyover Bridge, to the Mobil Roundabout, none of the streetlights is currently functional.

As night falls daily, the entire neighbourhood becomes very dark, even as there have been reported cases of robbery and harassment of road users by hoodlums, who hide under the cover of darkness to perpetrate their evil acts. Reports also have it that the development started shortly after the current administration came on board in 2019. But a few months ago, the lights were restored. However, some residents of the area claimed that while the other lights were restored, including the one under the bridge, the streetlights on the bridge were still out of order.

Because the functional streetlights stopped at the foot of the bridge, large swathes of the road, including the area from the foot of the bridge, up to the Mobil Filling Station after Guinness are still in darkness. While this happens, the streetlights from Pen Cinema, to Mobil Filling Station remain epileptic. From Ikeja to Pen Cinema would have remained in pit darkness, but matters are helped by companies that are operating around the area as light rays from their premises illuminate the area at night. Adenekan Edun, a civil servant, who resides in Agege, wondered why the state government has been inconsistent in maintaining the streetlights as was the case in the past years.

“The once illuminated Ikeja-Agege road has unbelievably turned into a dark alley, thereby turning the area into a veritable ground for hoodlums and sundry characters to operate seamlessly. Even with the absence of CCTV cameras, which are supposed to be strategically located (as is the case in developed countries), illuminating the area can scare away criminals and other such elements. “Streetlights make travellers and car owners confident on the road. It is even a ‘blessing’ in cases where the car suddenly breaks down at night. “During the #EndSARS protest, I remember alighting from the car that conveyed me to the Mobil Station only to be faced with a battery of hoodlums creating bonfires everywhere. As I sighted a group of young men walking on the other side of the road, I quickly crossed over and joined them as they discussed how dangerous the Mobil Station junction was at night.

“So, the truth remains that if there is constant light around these places, robbers may not be able to operate freely. When there was light on the road, one could walk at night from Ikeja to Agege, but no one dares to do that now. “We call on the state government to refurbish the streetlights from Pen Cinema to Ikeja and make them functional,” he said. Attention should also be given to streetlights from the National Filling Station junction to the Total Filling Station axis along the Oshodi to Agege route. This will help to scale down the activities of hoodlums along the road.

According to a trader, Michael Adenekan, the Oshodi to Agege road, which commuters and motorists once enjoyed plying, has now become a forbidden road at night. “I was personally saved twice by God Almighty on that road. On one of those occasions, I closed late from work and had to pass that road, but it was even police officers that were stationed around there that warned me against going further.

But another police officer, who took pity on me, volunteered to drop me off under the bridge, where a hoodlum even threatened to summon his colleagues to rob me if I fail to co-operate,” he said. Adenekan pleaded with the state government to restore lights to that road without further delay to scare away hoodlums and others.” When the office of the Commissioner for Energy, Mr. Olalere Odusote was contacted, a lady that responded requested that an SMS be sent on the subject matter.