House of Representatives has urged Federal Capital Territory Administration to restore street lights and replace stolen manholes in Abuja.
The House said the FCTA should ensure maintenance of Abuja.
The Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), when constituted, was mandated to ensure implementation.
This followed adoption of a motion “Call on Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to Restore Street Lights in Abuja Metropolis sponsored by Okpolupm Etteh’’
The House noted the darkness on major roads and streets in Abuja at night as a result of inadequate lighting.
It further noted that this creates avenue for some criminal-minded elements to perpetrate crime, touting and intimidating of innocent law abiding Nigerians and also makes the city unsafe for residents and visitors.
The House said most of the street lights installed on many highways and streets in the FCT are moribund and not functional.
The House said on major roads like Herbert Macaulay Way, Muhammadu Buhari Way, Jabi area, Aminu Kano Crescent, Ahmadu Bello Way and Independence Avenue; which houses the Three Arms Zone, National Assembly, Supreme Court and the Presidential Villa; the Federal Secretariat to Louis Edet House, (Police Headquarters), the street lights are comatose;
It said despite the prevailing darkness in most areas of the Federal Capital Territory at night, there is minimal and inadequate presence of stationary policemen or police patrol vans along some dangerous stretches of roads and under the bridges.
The House was concerned that the Federal Capital Territory, the nation’s capital, ought to have been maintained with modern facilities and should have alternative sources of power like standby generators at strategic
positions on the main roads, as a backup power supply in cases of power outage.
It was further concerned that most states of the Federation that do not have the huge yearly budgetary allocation like the FCT, maintain constant power supply in their various state capitals, therefore, the administrative headquarters of Nigeria should be more attractive to visitors and investors at night.
The House worried that despite the budgets that have been committed to providing the facilities and ensuring their maintenance, the once brilliantly lit city is creeping into darkness as many of the street lights have collapsed.
