Will Ambode’s Street Lights Survive Nigeria’s Poor Maintenance Culture?

What does it mean to have a Maintenance Culture?

Imagine having a generating set that has been working for months and yet not serviced once, then it breaks down one day and that’s when you realize it needs servicing. Being in tune with or showing sensitivity towards the proper functioning of a property, machine, structure e.t.c and carrying out repairs when due means imbibing a proper maintenance culture.

The above illustration is even fair enough, there are worst case scenario. In some cases the owner just goes ahead to buy a new generator and neglects the old one not minding how minute the problem is. The Generating set is left to die a natural death.

My main focus in this article will be the installation of new street lights in some parts of Lagos state.

It appears Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is set to toe the line of his predecessor in terms of development and facelift of the city of excellence if his recent deeds is anything to go by. Though last month’s demolition of the Owonifari section of Oshodi Market was greeted with heavy criticisms, the recent installation of street lights in strategic parts of Lagos state is yet another feather to his cap. The recent installation of street lights in some specific locations on the mainland such as; Berger, Lateef Jakande Road, Ogunnusi Road, Hakeem Balogun Street, Capitol Road, among others, is an indication of a government that cares for its environment, its aesthetic and the safety of the citizenry, or is that not the reason Oshodi Market was demolished?

In a city such as ours it will be expedient if our streets are lit up at night. At least we can walk at night without having to let our heads do a 360 at every step taken, though that still doesn’t guarantee safety but it does reduce the fear of some danger lurking at a corner.

However this is definitely not the first time Lagos is experiencing such intervention from the government.  In fact there were street lights in place before Ambode came with his own street lights. The problem with the old street lights was that they were not maintained properly as they ought to, hence they became street poles.

Maintenance of public infrastructures and National edifice has always been our bane in this country. It is always easy to erect modern state of the art structures but maintaining it usually meets a huge brick wall. Yet when another government gets to the corridor of power they decide to impress the citizenry by putting in place structures that have been in existence prior to their inauguration, instead of looking into the immediate cause and effect of the dilapidated state of the existing ones that were poorly maintained. then at the expiration of their tenure, they leave more rot.

The poor maintenance culture pervading the country has continued to threaten the development and prosperity of the country and these street lights are no exception to the infrastructural decay. What Ambode is doing is no doubt laudable, albeit what is the sustainability of these street lights?

Read also: Lagosians express mixed feelings over streetlights in major areas

We have seen world class infrastructures turn to shadows of their former self.

In 1999, Nigeria hosted the world in an U-20 FIFA world Cup. Four breathtaking stadia were used for that tournament. But what do we have today? Four sight losing structures! If those young players that graced the pitches of the Liberty Stadium now Obafemi Awolowo Stadium Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Zaria, Nnamdi Azikwe Stadium, Enugu and the now overlooked National Stadium, Lagos were to pay a visit to the stadia now they would be heart-broken at the level of decay that now characterizes some of the stadia especially National stadium, Lagos which we ought to rename National Forest. Though the stadia aforementioned were later renovated or refurbished for a later FIFA organized competition 10 years later, I’ll bet the money spent on their renovation was more than the amount it took the Federal government to erect those stadia.

The poor maintenance culture in Nigeria is legendary; it bedevils almost every sector of the country. Hence, if care is not taken the recent improvement to the development being heralded by Lagosians will just fade even before we settle down to enjoy the dividends. We have seen so many cases like this in the past that it has become a norm.

There always seem to be more willingness to spend money on new projects than on the maintenance of existing ones on the path of our government. Notwithstanding the fact that finance for the maintenance of an existing project is usually smaller than the cost of funding new projects, they still go on to endorse, award contracts and fund new projects.

Do you know why this seems to be the case? Your guess is as good as mine…Corruption! That malignant growth that has eaten deep into every sphere of human avocation with reckless abandon is solely responsible for such trend and of course the aspect of being lauded for bringing your own level of development.

There are many government parastatals in Lagos where the lifts stopped working for donkey years, water closet broken with no hope of repairs, especially those ones whose head-quarters were moved to Abuja. Yet every year provisions are made in the budget to tackle such anomalies…Where does the money got to?

Corruption and the pervading maintenance culture are also some of the topmost reasons our power sector continues to grapple for improvement.

What even upsets me the most is that some of these street lights are being installed in places where light has eluded them for at least five years. Imagine a situation where you see street lights adorning the roads at night while driving through a street yet no light in the houses located around such street lights. Wouldn’t that be strange?

But of course Nigeria is a place where strange is the new swag!

Where are the magnificent structures we use to see in the 80’s? See what National monuments like The National Arts Theatre, Tafawa Balewa square… have turned out to be? These Edifices that should be our National pride now thrive on lost glory. Tafawa Balewa has been eclipsed by the Eagle square Abuja.

It’s not bad to have more than one structure designed for the same purpose but we can’t just leave a multi-billion naira structure to rot just because there is a new structure that can serve the same purpose. That’s wasteful!

At a time we had one of the best airports and airways in Africa…You remember Nigerian Airways? What happened to all that? The demise of Nigerian Airways in 2003 was due to our bad maintenance culture and massive corruption.

Like I said earlier, no sector of the country is spared from these two demons!

Even the company that has been saddled with the responsibility of supplying us with power don’t have power either. So why expect power?

Ever wonder why people queue for fuel in a country where oil oozes out of the soil freely? Again, the situation here is pathetic! If I go on ranting this piece won’t end.

As the Naira continues to crash uncontrollably against the dollar; since a dollar now is 400 naira, we should concentrate more on maintaining existing projects instead of neglecting it to implement new projects that will cost us a fortune.

Let us imbibe a strong maintenance culture, repair the minor problems with our infrastructure before greater problems arise.

As they say; a stitch in time saves nine!