The federal government announced on Friday the closure of the bridge over the Niger River for a week.
The closure is aimed at carrying out repairs on the destroyed sections of the Niger River Bridge road and installing security architecture in the area.
The Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi, disclosed this in Ogbunike, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra, during an inspection tour of the bridge and other roads under construction in the South East and South South geopolitical zones of the country.
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The bridge is more than 50 years old since its construction.
He said when the bridge is closed, motorists will be directed to the Second Niger Bridge to give contractors adequate time to carry out the necessary repairs.
Recall that suspected vandals had looted vital bolts and iron used in the construction of the bridge, thereby exposing the bridge to obvious collapse and, in the process, threatening the lives of millions of road users and passers-by.
He explained that security measures are being taken to prevent repeat acts of vandalism on the bridge.
“The bridges are designed for light loads and dynamic loads so we have ordered the work to start immediately and all the asphalt will be removed and another one will be laid and there will be solar lights on that bridge in the next week and we will fix CCTV and connect it to that of the second Niger bridge so that the security will observe and whoever tries to touch the bridge again will be arrested.
“Now, on the first bridge in Niger, we have seen the evil of the underworld. We have seen the inhumanity of man to man, those things that they are eliminating are very dangerous to the beauty of that bridge and we have started to act on that bridge,” he said.
He added; “There is a lot of work accumulated on that bridge, as happened with the third continental bridge, and each government that comes will lay asphalt, and that is causing a lot of stagnation on that bridge.
“So these are the actions we have taken and then going down we reach the Enugu – Onitsha express and we are working on three sections and there the Enugu – Onitsha and another one is 17.5 km and the last one is about 20 km times two, so I have ordered them not to start any asphalt or concrete work, so what they have to do is take measurements of all the failed sections and they have to be milled and then use a 16mm folder to cover them very well completely. From the head bridge to km 21.5 and they will finish one carriage road before moving on to the other.
“We have to try to work at night so as not to interfere with traffic and we have to involve road safety and our own local traffic officials should start de-scaling the drainage before we start”
“To do this, we may have to close the first bridge in Niger within seven days and we will direct traffic to the second bridge to fix it in time,” he said.
During the ongoing construction of the second access road to the Niger Bridge, Engineer Timothy Emenike, Comptroller, and Engineer Nnamdi explained that there will be no more slowdown in work on the project, adding that the project is being executed from both fronts to meet the deadline.
“The project starts from Obosi to Mkpor and Ogidi and now we are in Ogbunike and along this alignment between the last time you came, we are working on several stops along this alignment and you just saw the second bridge that is underway and we are almost about to start the third.”
“The pace of work will not be a hindrance until we exhaust what the Anambra State Government gave us and I am happy to inform you that since the new Commissioner took office we have been going to the new Commissioner’s office and have been pressuring him to give us more work space.”
According to him, in the next week we will have another 5 kilometer workspace between the Obosi axes, working from both ends.”
“We are crossing the Ogbunike hill to continue work in that area,” they stated.
The Anambra State Commissioner for Works, Arc Okey Ezeobi, announced that the right of way demanded by the contractors will be granted, adding that an additional 5 kilometers have been added to the contractors.
Ezeobi thanked President Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Engineer Dave Umahi for delivering dividends of democracy to the people of Anambra and the South East.
He reiterated the support of the people of the state ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“There is no better way to describe this as renewed hope and it is not appropriate to say it and the Honorable Minister with what he is doing with our wonderful President for the first time. Easterners can come and go with ease and the bottleneck that had been a big hassle and that is sending people out of the South East has now been solved.”
“Now one can say goodbye to Onitsha, say goodbye to Asaba and go on his way.”
“You don’t know how happy the people of Anambra and the South East are and thank Mr. President for us.”
“There is no way to ask for dividends from democracy, and that is when you have visionary leadership designed to alleviate the sufferings of the masses.”
“Mr President is developing all parts of Nigeria and with regards to the right of way for this project, we are finalizing it and we are adding another 5km to what we have now and there will be more than enough for the contractor to work with,” he added.
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