The Tamale Metropolitan Assembly has started the installation of streetlights along the principal roads in the northern regional capital. A large number of the streetlights are not functioning for several months now making the city dark at night.
Consequently, criminals take advantage of the situation to attack people and steal from them making the metropolis unsafe at night. However, the intervention will complement efforts of the night police patrols to improve the situation in the metropolis.
The Public Relations Officer of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, Mr. Amadu Mustapha Zakari, in an exclusive interview noted there has been a public outcry in recent months due to the darkness at night.
“You will recall in recent past the Tamale Metro Assembly has been in the news for the bad reasons and the public outcry over the darkness situation on our streets especially the principal ones and the danger it poses to the citizenry” he said.
According to him, the management of the assembly conducted an audit of the situation and took some steps based on the findings to rectify the problem.
“And we’re happy to note over the last few days the technicians are working on it and if you happen to ply the road from Agric through to the Russian bungalows stretch you will notice the streetlights are functioning properly now.”
He mentioned the NIB highway to Tamale Teaching Hospital and liberation road through to the Regional Coordinating Council have also been worked on.
Mr. Mustapha indicated the plan is to continue the exercise for the next couple of days in order to replace all broken down streetlights in the capital
“Before this intervention you will notice that the darkness did really posed as a serious threat to us – security issues – apart from the fact that the beautification of the city was also an issue and the unscrupulous ones really took advantage of the darkness to perpetuate all kinds of crime and go unnoticed” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive, Hon Sule Salifu, had earlier told THE CUSTODIAN during an interview in December 2022 that discussions were underway with the relevant state agencies to fix the problem.
