By Maduka Nweke, [email protected] 08034207864, 08118879331
Nigerians from all walks of life have been speaking on the completion and commissioning date of the second Niger Bridge announced by the Federal Government. While some are kicking against it others are commending the Federal Government.
According to Okonedo Gerard, a business man in Ugheli, Delta State, the Federal Government’s efforts in this direction is parochial and situationally misdirected. He said,” Federal Government chose the finishing stage of the bridge to be near election time to use it as campaign tool. Otherwise, what has been holding them all along.
“Although, that is their ploy, I know Igbo people. They are not perturbed by this caricature being made of the bridge. I can tell you, two things are holistically wrong about their plan. One, the timing of the commissioning is wrong. It means they want to use the bridge as confirmation that Federal Government didn’t hate the Igbo and for that vote for them during this election.
“Another one is that, the area the bridge was built will make it impossible for ships to berth at the area marked for Onitsha RiverPort. The height of the bridge will not swallow any ship that comes to berth at the ‘Port’ and this will make the project bad in the sense that it will mean Ndigbo should either chose bridge or the port and they chose bridge for Ndigbo. It is exactly a Greek gift given to Ndigbo,”he stated.
Another contributor, Mr. Ogene Okaro noted that which ever one Igbo get this time, they should be happy because under Goodluck Jonathan who they wholesomely accepted and welcome, this kind of project was not carried. Whether Sea port or bridge , they did not have one before now. Ndigbo should be happy that under the current dispensation Ndigbo who did not vote for the Government in power are getting this kind of infrastructure. Is it not ridiculous to imagine? That is Nigeria for you,” he concluded.
Recently, Senator Chris Ngige hosted the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, who led a team of senior government officials to inspect the progress of work on the second Niger Bridge that is primed to link major cities in the Southeast and South south with the rest of the country. After being led on inspection of the ambitious project by the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, the Chief of Staff to the President, said that the second Niger Bridge has so far gulped over N400 billion but that the administration was satisfied the project would finally be delivered in October. Prof Gambari said that out of the N400 billion already spent , the previous administration committed N10 billion into the project, adding that contrary to insinuations, the project is being funded 100 percent by the Nigerian government.
The Minister of Works and Housing, announced that there would be power disruption around the bridge head for two weeks in April this year to enable the Transmission Company of Nigeria to relocate and realign the transmission lines to pave the way for the completion of the ring roads connecting the bridge from all routes. The minister also announced that with the completion of concrete work on the bridge, making it possible for a walk from the beginning to the end of the 1.6 kilometres stretch, the minor alignments on the structure would be wrapped up before the end of April. Reacting to whether there would be tollgate at the Second Niger Bridgehead, Fashola said that his priority was to complete the road before delving into the suitability or otherwise of the road for tolling. The minister said that although there is a Federal Executive Council approval for the tolling of 12 highways in the country, the decision on tolling the 2nd Niger Bridge head was yet to be made by the federal government.