1 week ago
23
By Adewale Sanyaolu
The African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC), a body of researchers working across 12 African cities, including Lagos and Maiduguri in Nigeria, has revealed that 80 percent of communities in Lagos have no functional streetlights.
The research findings pointed out that the situation exacerbates crime and insecurity in one of Africa’s most populous cities.
Presenting the findings last weekend at a stakeholders’ technical session organized by the consortium in partnership with the University of Lagos Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development (CHSD), ACRC’s Action Research Lead for the Safety and Security Domain, Adewumi Badiora, explained that the lack of streetlights significantly contributes to high crime rates, identifying area boys, cult groups, trade unions, and even some security operatives as key actors in the city’s insecurity challenge.
Badiora is a senior lecturer at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.
The researcher explained that the absence of streetlights makes movement at night dangerous, particularly for women and girls. He cited Uganda as an example of a country where the installation of solar-powered streetlights has reduced crime and boosted economic activity.
He suggested that Lagos could adopt a similar approach, as solar-powered streetlights offer a more sustainable solution to the city’s persistent electricity challenges.
Findings from research conducted across Lagos Mainland, Lagos Island, and semi-urban areas show that communities with functional streetlights experience reduced crime rates.
Beyond security, Badiora explained that improved street lighting boosts economic activities, as business owners in newly lit areas reported higher revenue from being able to operate for longer hours without fear of attacks.
However, the study found that streetlight provision and maintenance are often politically driven, with installations concentrated in elite neighborhoods, leaving informal settlements and lower-income communities in darkness.
The study also highlighted challenges in powering Lagos’ streetlights, noting that reliance on the national grid, diesel, or gas has made maintenance difficult.
To address these issues, the research recommends community involvement in street lighting projects. Badiora emphasized that by ensuring residents play a role in planning and implementation, sustainability increases and maintenance efforts become more effective.
In response to these findings, ACRC Lagos is launching a street lighting action research initiative to improve safety and socio-economic activities in the city.
The initiative will focus on informal settlements like Ajegunle-Ikorodu, where a co-produced lighting strategy will be developed with residents, community groups, and community leaders.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of ACRC and a professor at the University of Manchester’s Global Development Institute, Diana Mitlin, emphasized the need for new approaches to urban development, acknowledging past challenges in effectively addressing city issues.
Ms. Mitlin explained that when ACRC was established, it became clear that previous interventions had been limited in their effectiveness due to difficulties in navigating political complexities and integrating multiple urban systems.
She said: “When setting up the African Cities Research Consortium, we recognized that we were not as effective as we wanted to be in the urban space.
“We hypothesized that this was because we did not easily understand how to manage the political complexities of African towns and cities, and we did not fully grasp how to integrate urban systems. Working on one system often had negative implications for others, making well-intentioned interventions ineffective.”
During the project’s foundation phase, ACRC conducted analyses in 12 cities to identify key urban challenges and opportunities.
Ms. Mitlin announced that ACRC’s Lagos report is nearing completion and is expected to be released soon.
In her remarks, the Chairperson of the ACRC Lagos Engagement Committee, Ayodele Atsenuwa, a professor of law, emphasized the need to bridge the existing gaps between academia and policymakers through initiatives like ACRC.
Atsenuwa, who also serves as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Development Services at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), reiterated the importance of intra-African collaboration in research, stating that rather than solely depending on North-South partnerships, African researchers must work together to advance urban development.
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