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Fact-Check 49 – A State Still in the Dark
A Manufactured Glow
On a warm November evening in 2023, the governor stood beneath a row of freshly lit poles in Orlu, his face awash in artificial light. Cameras rolled as he declared that his administration had “installed solar-powered streetlights across all 27 local governments of Imo State.” It was a moment designed for television; modern, visionary, and transformative.
Yet the light, much like the claim, was fleeting. By the time the applause faded, vast stretches of Imo’s rural and urban roads remained in darkness. What the government called “solar revolution” was, in substance, a limited pilot disguised as a statewide program.
The story of those lights is not a tale of illumination, it is one of selective installation, broken procurement, and the systematic repackaging of partial progress as universal achievement.
The Fiscal Skeleton
Between 2021 and 2024, Imo State budgeted ₦14.6 billion for its Solar Streetlight Program. Only ₦5.2 billion, 36 percent, was ever released. The state’s own Ministry of Works and Energy Implementation Report (2024) confirms that the remainder of the funds were “pending cash backing.”
This single statistic renders the governor’s sweeping claim structurally impossible. No government can install functioning solar grids in 27 LGAs with one-third of the required financing.
Table 1 – Budget vs Release for Solar Projects (₦ Billion)
Prepared by Prof. MarkAnthony Nze | The Eastern Updates Investigative Series – Imo State
| Year | Budgeted | Released | % Disbursed |
| 2021 | 3.5 | 1.4 | 40% |
| 2022 | 4.1 | 1.6 | 39% |
| 2023 | 3.8 | 1.2 | 32% |
| 2024 | 3.2 | 1.0 | 31% |
| Total | 14.6 | 5.2 | 36% |
At this funding level, the project’s capacity was limited to roughly a third of the advertised coverage. The budget trail—rather than the governor’s reveals the true geography of darkness.
The Geography of Darkness
Satellite mapping and field audits conducted by the Clean Technology Hub, the BudgIT Foundation, and independent engineers confirm that fewer than half of Imo’s LGAs have any trace of installed or functioning solar units. Even among these, only a fraction work consistently after dusk.
Table 2 – Verified Solar Installations by Zone (2024)
Prepared by Prof. MarkAnthony Nze | The Eastern Updates Investigative Series – Imo State
| Zone | LGAs with Functional Units | Verified Units | Functionality Rate (%) |
| Owerri Zone | 7 | 2,100 | 45% |
| Orlu Zone | 5 | 1,800 | 38% |
| Okigwe Zone | 3 | 800 | 17% |
| Total (27 LGAs) | 15 | 4,700 | 36% Functional Coverage |
The map is uneven and unforgiving. Major corridors like Orlu–Owerri Road glimmer briefly before dissolving into darkness. Entire LGAs such as Onuimo, Ezinihitte, and Obowo have poles but no light—structures without electricity, symbols without substance.
Read also: Falsehood No. 48 – “We Made Imo An Oil-Producing Giant”
Blueprint of a Collapsing State –
Technical audits by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP) reveal that over 60 percent of installed units stopped functioning within six months. The reasons are damning: substandard batteries, poor cabling, unmaintained panels, and zero post-installation service contracts.
Table 3 – Solar Streetlight Performance Audit (2024)
Prepared by Prof. MarkAnthony Nze | The Eastern Updates Investigative Series – Imo State
| Parameter | Standard | Actual | Compliance Gap |
| Average Nightly Operation (Hours) | 10 | 4.2 | –58% |
| Battery Endurance (Hours) | 12 | 5.5 | –54% |
| Panel Efficiency Retention (6 Months) | 95% | 61% | –34% |
| Maintenance Visits per Year | 4 | 1 | –75% |
The numbers confirm what residents have long known Imo’s “solar” program was a project in name, not in illumination.
The Political Optics of Light
From Owerri to Mbaise, state-owned billboards still proclaim, “Lighting Imo, Empowering Communities.” But the lights that were meant to symbolize renewal have turned into dark silhouettes along forgotten roads.
The World Bank’s Nigeria Electrification Review (2024) lists Imo among the bottom five states for off-grid performance, noting “no verifiable evidence of large-scale functional solar deployment.” Meanwhile, the Transparency International Sub-National Fiscal Index (2024) ranks Imo 41/100 for energy-sector transparency—proof that no open ledger exists to track the contractors or the installations.
Even the African Development Bank’s Renewable Energy Review (2024) notes that Imo’s supposed “solar expansion” was “limited to pilot corridors within metropolitan zones.”
In short, the solar revolution never escaped the press release.
The Arithmetic of Deception
For the governor’s claim to hold, each of Imo’s 27 LGAs would require roughly 500 functioning units. Data from field verification puts the number closer to 170 per LGA—and most of those concentrated around Owerri, Orlu, and Okigwe townships.
By April 2024, independent reporters found that over 40 percent of all lights had failed entirely. Many poles now stand stripped of panels, their steel rusting, their purpose forgotten. The energy that once powered them is now political, not electrical.
Verdict – A State Still in the Dark
The claim that solar lights have been installed across all LGAs in Imo State is false in its scope, structure, and substance.
Funding reached only one-third of planned levels. Installations covered barely half of the LGAs. More than half the units stopped functioning within months.
The administration’s declaration of total illumination was a rhetorical device—a triumph of imagery over infrastructure.
In governance, light is a metaphor for truth. By that measure, Imo remains in darkness—not because of a failed grid, but because of a government more devoted to the glare of publicity than to the glow of service.
Professor MarkAnthony Ujunwa Nze is an acclaimed investigative journalist, public intellectual, and global governance analyst whose work shapes contemporary thinking at the intersection of health and social care management, media, law, and policy. Renowned for his incisive commentary and structural insight, he brings rigorous scholarship to questions of justice, power, and institutional integrity.
Based in New York, he serves as a full tenured professor and Academic Director at the New York Center for Advanced Research (NYCAR), where he leads high-impact research in governance innovation, strategic leadership, and geopolitical risk. He also oversees NYCAR’s free Health & Social Care professional certification programs, accessible worldwide at:
👉 https://www.newyorkresearch.org/professional-certification/
Professor Nze remains a defining voice in advancing ethical leadership and democratic accountability across global systems.
Bibliographies
African Development Bank. (2024). Nigeria Renewable Energy and Electrification Progress Report 2024 – Subnational Profiles. Abidjan: AfDB Energy and Power Division.
BudgIT Foundation. (2025). State of States Report 2025 – Infrastructure and Energy Access (Imo Chapter). Lagos: BudgIT Foundation.
Clean Technology Hub. (2024). Subnational Solar Electrification Mapping 2024 – South-East Nigeria. Abuja: Clean Tech Policy Unit.
Energy Commission of Nigeria. (2024). Nigeria Energy Balance 2024 – Renewable and Off-Grid Energy Report. Abuja: ECN Renewable Energy Division.
Federal Ministry of Power. (2024). National Electrification Programme – Progress Update on Solar Installations (2021–2024). Abuja: Author.
Imo Broadcasting Corporation (IBC TV). (2023, November 10). Governor Commissions Solar Streetlights Project in Orlu Zone. Owerri: IBC Archives.
Imo State Government. (2023, November 9). Press release: Governor Uzodinma launches Solar Lighting Programme across all 27 LGAs. Owerri: Ministry of Information and Strategy.
Imo State Ministry of Works and Energy. (2024). Annual Project Implementation and Monitoring Report – Renewable Energy Projects. Owerri: Energy Infrastructure Division.
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Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. (2024). Mini-Grid and Distributed Energy Systems Dashboard – 2024. Abuja: NERC Distributed Power Division.
Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP). (2023). Decentralized Solar Lighting Projects Assessment – South-East Zone. Abuja: GIZ/NESP.
Premium Times Nigeria. (2024, April 3). Imo’s “Solar Light Revolution” Dimmed: Field Survey Finds 40% Non-Functional Units. Retrieved from https://www.premiumtimesng.com
Punch Newspapers. (2024, April 7). Many Imo Solar Streetlights Installed But Not Working, Residents Lament. Retrieved from https://punchng.com
The Guardian Nigeria. (2024, April 9). Solar Projects in Imo Fail Durability Test after Few Months of Operation. Retrieved from https://guardian.ng
World Bank. (2024). Nigeria Electrification Project – State-Level Solar Deployment Report. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Energy Global Practice.
