Restore street lights, residents appeal to FCTA

Abuja – A cross section of residents of Abuja, have appealed to the FCT authorities to restore non-functional street lights on some major roads and streets in the nation’s capital. The residents told reporters in Abuja on Thursday that the absence of light on such roads created a fertile environment for criminals to operate.

Mr Stephen Jackson who resides on Accra Street in Wuse Zone Five, observed that the street lights in the area had not functioned for over two years. Jackson wondered why the street remained dark even when power supply had improved. He noted that criminals used the abandoned park in the area as their hideout and took advantage of the absence of street lights to attack residents of the area at night.

“If the lights are restored, it would mitigate some criminal activities by hoodlums living in the abandoned garden and Wuse Zone Five motor park, who come out at night to attack residents.” Another respondent Tony Nwachuku, said that the non-functional street lights created a bad image for the capital city. “I urge the government of the FCT to urgently do something about the situation especially as the Abuja Carnival is approaching. “As you know, carnival is a street party and it does attract so many people within and outside the country and it will be an eyesore for our roads and streets to remain in darkness during such celebration.”

Also commenting, Mr Ndubisi Mpama of Conakry Street in Wuse Zone Three, appealed to the FCT administration to fix the lights as the residents could no longer sleep comfortably in their homes due to the security challenges currently facing the nation. “Without being told, we should be security conscious due to the current challenges in our nation.

“The darkness in parts of the city encourage criminal activities as miscreants use such dark spots as their hideout.” He also observed that some traffic control lights at some major road intersections were not functioning. The situation, he said, was responsible for some of the accidents in Abuja. Mpama, therefore, appealed to the government to resuscitate these infrastructures in the nation’s capital for the good of all. (NAN)