About 168 streetlights stolen from Lagos-Ibadan Expressway months after residents demanded them for safety

• 168 solar-powered streetlights installed along Longbridge on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway have been stolen.

• Residents had pushed for the lights because of fears of robbery and attacks on motorists at night.

• Authorities have confirmed the theft, but no arrests or replacement timeline has been announced.

About 168 solar-powered streetlights have been stolen from the Longbridge section of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, according to findings by PUNCH Metro, on a stretch where residents had specifically pushed the government to illuminate over fears of kidnapping and robbery.

The streetlights were installed in 2025 along the roughly five-kilometre bridge to improve visibility and motorist safety at night. According to reports, the lights began disappearing gradually just months after installation, with a count taken from the OPIC end of the bridge toward Wawa showing that about 168 of them had since been removed.

The theft appears to have happened in stages rather than all at once. Some poles were found with only one of the two nuts typically used to secure them in place, suggesting vandals loosened the fittings on one visit before returning later to finish removing the pole entirely. 

Business owners in the area said the removals mostly happen at night, with many only discovering fresh losses each morning from people arriving via the Longbridge direction, since most shops in the area close by 7pm.

The Federal Controller of Works in Ogun State, Richard Adeleye, has since confirmed the theft.

For residents and motorists, the loss has more significance than the cost of the infrastructure itself. Longbridge has previously been associated with attacks on stranded motorists, particularly at night, which is part of why residents had pushed for the lights to be installed in the first place. 

One motorist described the theft as evidently well-planned, warning that the return of darkness could raise the risk of both accidents and criminal attacks along the route. A resident put it more bluntly, noting that if criminals could already operate in the area, removing the lights only makes it easier for them to do so unnoticed.

The incident adds to a broader pattern of infrastructure theft along Lagos highways. In October 2025, vandals were reported to have stripped streetlights, cables, iron rods and copper wiring from sections of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, in a similar case that drew attention to how exposed public infrastructure remains once installed.

As of publication, no arrests have been announced in connection with the Longbridge thefts, and it remains unclear how soon the missing streetlights might be replaced.

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