Anambra State will be different this Christmas season. Every nook and cranny of the State will be illuminated this Yuletide, courtesy of Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR.
This wearing of a brand new look by Anambra State is happening as a result of Governor Soludos directive a couple of months back that the Ministry of Power and Water Resources should come up with a more cost effective energy for illuminating the streets.
Following the instruction of Mr. Governor, all-in-one solar street lights have been introduced to replace the former diesel-powered street lights.
It calls for celebration that all-in-one street lights are rapidly springing up in all the three senatorial zones of Anambra State, thereby changing the night skyline.
Of course solar street lighting is the way to go given the many advantages over traditional lighting. It is more economical than diesel and, therefore, a veritable way of avoiding the rising cost of diesel. It curbs the increasing rate of cable vandalizing and theft. It is easier to be deployed at flashpoints where there are incidents of insecurity.
The stimulation of night life and the state economy by solar lighting cannot be overemphasized. As a source of clean energy it has low maintenance cost.
The street lights are bound to add to the joy of the Yuletide. The street lights across the state can be seen as the sure way of turning Anambra State into the liveable and prosperous megacity that Governor Soludo espouses.
Coming into Onitsha from the Niger Bridgehead one beholds a vast boulevard of arresting beams and flashes and rays. The brightness shines in a manner that transforms Onitsha into a modern commercial city.
The Upper Iweka that not so long ago used to be the dark coven of crooked boys and ill-assorted robbers will through the solar lights be turned into a cynosure that beckons all to walk about and live freely under shining lights.
Our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora and elsewhere can now come home for Christmas to meet well-lit streets. With ample lighting, Anambra will be safe enough for all of us. This Christmas will be one of the best to have ever had by Ndi-Anambra.
Given the Governor Soludo drive, night life will be back in town as pleasure gardens from Upper Iweka to all the towns across the state will displace the hideouts of sundry touts, hoodlums and miscreants. Light is the watchword for security.
When the solar lights shine on them, the bandits will henceforth have nowhere to hide. Onitsha and other adjoining towns and villages of Anambra State will be basking in a new lease of life, enjoying the ambience offered by the everywhere presence of solar lights.
The Soludo Solution effect can be felt in the air amongst the people as he champions the cause of going farther afield to bequeath Anambra State with a befitting well-lit homeland. With all the solar panels in place, the erstwhile rustic nooks and crannies of Awka can with the passage of time be transformed into the Dubai of Africa.
It is from measures such as putting in place affordable and workable lighting that many foreign townships have been transformed. For instance, Dubai that used to be a desert with only three buildings witnessed a miraculous transformation from 1990 to 2013. Dubai has since become a tourist destination because people used brains to transform the desert land.
It needs reiteration that the benefits of solar lights over traditional lighting range from cost effectiveness to longevity. The maintenance of solar lights is relatively easy. While traditional light can hardly ever last more than five years, solar lights can function for two decades.
Solar lighting does away with health-harmful emissions. Pollution will thenceforth be reduced on the streets of Anambra State through the street lights installed by Governor Soludo. This is of utmost importance to public health and the environment.
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