The Lagos State Government is planning to have its own electricity grid as part of its ‘Light Up Lagos’ initiative aimed at providing regular power supply in the state.
The Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Olawale Oluwo, who disclosed this at a briefing, said the state’s Governor Akinwunmi Ambode had in December inaugurated a Light Up Lagos Committee.
According to Oluwo, the initiative is divided into six stages, including the power advisory committee, independent power supply, street lighting, and rural electrification.
The commissioner noted that the state already had five Independent Power Plants that provide power to the state’s institutions, saying the government was considering building two or three additional IPPs.
He said the essence of the IPPs was to leverage on them to bring government service closer to the people, to power up health centres, schools, water corporations, among others.
He, however, said, “Lagos State is moving away from providing power to itself and its institutions and parastatals to working with stakeholders to make sure we can give power to the people.”
Oluwo said, “The Light Up Lagos initiative is not about street lighting. Street lighting is just a small component of the Light Up Lagos idea. The idea is that of the governor and he is very committed to its implementation. The Governor in December inaugurated the Light Up Lagos Committee.
He noted that street lights had been coming up on major highways including the Third Mainland Bridge and Ikorodu Road, saying, “We started this initiative in December and the intention was to make sure that we could take street lights to every nook and cranny.”
On the rural electrification, Oluwo explained that 32 communities would benefit from the initiative.
He said that the ongoing Light Up Lagos project was aimed at taking the state to a point where there would be uninterrupted power supply in the state.
He said, “In business districts, the approach to the power situation is going to be at three levels: one is the short term, which is the quick intervention such as IPPs, street lighting, powering hospitals, among others.
“In the medium, the target is for Lagos to have its own electricity grid. That will be the medium-term solution. We are already working with stakeholders on that. Then the long-term plan is to work on generation, transmission, distribution, and gas supply to be able to give the state 24 hours of power supply. So it is a journey, and every district will be taken care of.”