Oyo’s Light Switch: From Ajimobi’s Solar Innovation to Makinde’s Diesel Dependency | By Maroof Asudemade

I find something profoundly troubling about replacing a renewable-energy solution with a fossil-fuel-dependent system and then presenting the replacement as technological advancement. This is the sad story of street lighting in Oyo State under Governor Seyi Makinde.

During the administration of the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi, Oyo State embarked on a solar-powered street-lighting initiative, deploying standalone solar streetlights in strategic locations across the state. The idea was straightforward: use renewable energy to illuminate public spaces, improve security and provide lighting without the recurring burden of purchasing fuel to power generators.

Whatever criticisms may be levelled against the quality or coverage of those installations, the underlying principle was unmistakably modern: use the sun to generate electricity for street lighting.

Then came the Seyi Makinde administration and the Light-Up Oyo project. Existing solar installations on major carriageways were removed to make way for the new diesel-powered street-lighting infrastructure. The state government has acknowledged the removal, although its official explanation is that the solar units were relocated and redeployed to less commercially active areas rather than discarded. What however has been alleged was that boys loyal to Makinde sold off the removed polls and solar installations.

But this raises a fundamental question that deserves a straightforward answer: Why remove functioning solar-powered streetlights from major roads and replace them with infrastructure that depends on diesel generators? I am not asking a political question. I am asking a question of public policy, economics, environmental sustainability and value for money.

The government itself acknowledged that diesel generators were initially used as a stop-gap measure because of supply-chain delays, with a stated intention to migrate eventually to gas generators, inverters and the state’s Independent Power Project. But a stop-gap arrangement can still deserve scrutiny when it involves public infrastructure and recurring operating costs. And the so-called stop gap measure of diesel generators is still being used to power streetlights as we speak.

Why should a state that receives abundant sunlight remove solar streetlights and introduce a system whose operation depends on diesel? Why move backwards from an energy source that arrives freely every morning to one that requires taxpayers or contractors to continually purchase fuel?

Why dismantle existing infrastructure rather than improve, upgrade or integrate it where technically feasible? And perhaps most importantly: what happened to the solar poles and installations that were removed?

There have been allegations in political and public discussions that some of the removed solar poles and equipment were handed over to political associates or persons acting on behalf of the administration and eventually sold as scraps. That allegation is serious and Oyo citizens need to Makinde’s side of the allegation.

If the allegation is false, the Makinde administration has an easy remedy: publish the inventory of the solar installations removed, identify where each batch was redeployed, and provide records showing their present locations. If they were genuinely relocated, Oyo people deserve to know where they are. If they were disposed of, the public deserves to know the disposal process, the authorised buyers, the proceeds and the account into which the money was paid. Transparency should settle the matter.

What is difficult to reconcile, however, is the broader policy choice. The Makinde administration’s own documents describe the Light-Up Oyo project as a major intervention intended to improve security and support economic activity. The administration initially planned approximately 242 kilometres of lighting, later targeting 300 kilometres, and reported that about 238 kilometres had the capacity to be energised.

The state also disclosed a separate smart LED street-lighting project valued at ₦1.772 billion for strategic routes in Ibadan. There is therefore no argument that the administration did nothing in the area of public lighting. It did. The question is whether it chose the most economically and environmentally sensible route.

A government that inherits solar streetlights does not necessarily have to preserve every old pole forever. Technology improves. Infrastructure becomes obsolete. Roads are reconstructed. Lighting standards change.

But when an administration removes renewable-energy infrastructure, it carries a responsibility to explain clearly why replacement with another system represents better value.

The argument that the new lights produce greater luminosity may have technical merit. The Oyo Energy Commissioner made precisely that argument, saying the old standalone solar lights did not meet the illumination standards required for major carriageways and explaining that the removed units were being redeployed elsewhere. That explanation deserves to be tested against independent technical and financial evidence.

But even accepting that argument, another question remains: Could the improved lighting infrastructure have been powered by solar, hybrid renewable energy or another cheaper and more sustainable source from the beginning?

At a time when cities around the world are increasingly turning to solar and other renewable-energy technologies for public lighting, Oyo’s major street-lighting programme became associated with diesel generators.

That is why the controversy deserves more than partisan name-calling. Governor Seyi Makinde should be challenged to explain the economics of the decision. How much did the old solar infrastructure cost the state? How many solar poles were removed? How many were actually relocated? Where were they relocated? What was their condition when removed? How much was spent on dismantling and transporting them?

How much has been spent, directly or indirectly, on powering the replacement streetlights? What are the maintenance costs? And what is the present energy source for the entire Light-Up Oyo network?

The people of Oyo State are not merely interested in seeing poles standing along the roads. They want infrastructure that represents sound investment, sustainability and responsible stewardship of public resources.

The late Abiola Ajimobi administration got everything right with its solar street-lighting programme. The Makinde administration however did not have legitimate technical reasons for replacing some of that infrastructure.

But progress should not be measured simply by replacing one set of poles with another. Progress should be measured by whether the replacement is more efficient, more sustainable, more economical and ultimately better for the people. That is where the Makinde administration owes Oyo people convincing answers.

The allegation that solar installations were secretly sold as scrap should be investigated. And Makinde administration cannot escape the larger question: why did a state blessed with abundant sunshine move from solar-powered streetlights to a system that initially depended on diesel generators?