Residents of the state were angry recently after a viral video on social media showed officials of Lagos State Ministry of Housing confronting a resident over solar panels installed on his home.
The video showed ministry officials from the monitoring and compliance unit telling the resident to seek approval and pay a fee before he could install the pipeline.
But the state government has responded that permits and administrative fees for solar power installations only apply to residents of its social housing estates and not to private homeowners or tenants across the state.
People are angry, but it’s a complex anger. Some are very angry that instead of the government appreciating the citizens for standing in the gap, it is going after the people with taxes.
But others cautioned that such requirements could hamper the adoption of renewable energy in a country with frequent power outages. Advocates on this side of the argument argue that the state government just wants to see its citizens in darkness and depression.
Reacting in an X post, Wale Ajetunmobi, senior special assistant on media to Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the policy was misunderstood by the resident.
“Not all residents are charged by the state for solar installation,” he said.
“This is true but the man who took the video seems to be misinformed about the guidelines of the Lagos State Government on the installation of solar energy systems in social housing estates,” he said.
Only residents of government-owned social housing estates are charged administrative fees for alterations, including the installation of solar power systems, he said.
Ajetunmobi said the requirement is tied to the government’s duty as facility manager of the estates. “Solar installations are considered structural alterations especially where these affect common spaces or the original design of buildings,” he said.
“Only residents who own property on government-owned social housing estates are required to pay administrative fees for modifications such as the installation of a solar power system before any further development can be approved,” he said.
Any change has to be processed by the ministry of housing’s physical planning and survey departments for approval, material compliance and post-inspection checks.
“Those solar power systems are typically installed by the occupants in the common areas so this change needs to be approved by the facility manager (government) before any occupant can proceed.”
The person in the video is likely a tenant who rented one of the government-owned estates from the property owner and does not fully understand the terms of the indemnity document, he added.
He said the officials seen in the video were from the ministry’s monitoring and compliance unit, adding that the resident had not sought prior approval before the installation started.
He said the government had previously covered liabilities arising from unauthorized alterations, including roof damage and fires.
“He is probably a tenant in one of these social housing estates owned by the Lagos state government, otherwise he would not have raised concerns about something that was clearly documented in the indemnity document which he signed before the government handed him the apartment after he bought it.
“Generally, anyone living in an estate should consult the state government (facility manager) before making any external changes.
“Changes made without authorization to common property could lead to the government being exposed to liabilities to other residents,” he said.
The Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law stipulates that any change in the structure of buildings must be approved by the relevant
authorities.
But what has started as a government regulation over the installation of solar panels in the state-owned estates has turned into a heated public debate over governance, taxation, housing failure and the limits of state control in a city grappling with worsening economic hardship.
While condemning the government’s move, residents are demanding the repeal of such a law, viewing it as commercialisation of survival
For many in Lagos, the issue is not just about solar energy, but a further layer in what they describe as an increasing system of levies, approvals and charges imposed on citizens already obliged to provide themselves with basic amenities.
Some quarters are of the opinion that while governments of developed societies are subsidising the adoption of renewable energy, Lagosians are being asked to pay additional fees just to escape darkness.
The government clarification failed to appease the people’s anger as tempers ran high in the entire state with many ready to take on the government authorities.
But many residents say the policy is just a “pilot phase” that could eventually extend to private estates and ordinary homeowners across the state. So their thinking is that if they don’t react now it would be too late when government would want to extend it to private house owners.
There are some concerns about why citizens who already provide their own electricity, water and security would need to pay the government to install solar systems powered by sunlight, a natural gift to humanity.
A businessman resident in a private estate in Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos, Anthony Osewele, yesterday lambasted the state government, saying, “The state government has no right to sell God’s energy.”
When people make up their minds to take the place of God to themselves, you wonder if they had any iota of conscience in them”.
” “Nobody has the right to sell the God-given energy of the sun. We talking about solar power from the sun; God free gift to mankind. The sun is the center of universe . So, for me, it is evil and the height of wickedness for any one in authority to even think of collecting money from citizens for using sunlight. This means one day they will figure out a way to charge citizens for breathing the air. It is condemnable in all its forms.
‘We are talking about other climes where the government gives electricity to their citizens 24 hours nonstop. But here the government provides darkness making life hellish and short for the people.
And when the people move to provide alternatives just to better their lives, the government is here to add to their sorrow by taxing them for doing that. “(This) is very bad,” he said.
Marcellus Onah, a lawyer, also backs Osewele’s position, stressing that residents are not subscribing to solar power as a luxury, but as a compulsion imposed on them by the collapse of public electricity supply.
“People are going for solar because the government has failed to provide stable electricity which is the minimum any responsible government should provide.
“We generate our own water. We produce our own power. We set the roads around us. It all adds up and the government wants to charge us for trying to survive. “It is very bad and unacceptable,” he said.
Rowland Adebayo, an estate agent, also lamented that Lagosians are being strangulated by multiple taxes and levies without commensurate public services.
They issued parking tickets on the road. They want tenement rates. Every day there’s a new levy or another.”
“I don’t mind paying taxes if the government is doing the right things.
“But to make people pay to get solar energy is criminal. It is like taxing sunlight which is a free gift from God and we must fight it,” he said.
