Second Niger Bridge project suffers fresh set back

Dachi Maduako, Lagos - 08.06.2009

LACK of political will and paucity of funds may have kept the second Niger Bridge in the cooler despite orchestrated government support to have a wider and an enduring second bridge to link Asaba and Onitsha and the rest of the South East, South South and the Northern parts of the country.

Despite revelations by the Works, Housing and Urban Development Minister, Dr. Hassan Lawal, that no contract was signed, contrary to the public declaration by the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the Nigerian Tribune can reveal that there were more to it than the eye beholds.

The minister, after one of his inspections to the existing bridge, had warned of the dangers of an imminent collapse of the bridge after about 50 years of bearing more load than it was designed for.

Beyond this, he decried the deceit from the highest quarters that the contract had been awarded, saying, “People misunderstood me when I said that if a responsible government can flag-off a road without contract; I wonder what else 419 is. Sorry that I said it, but that is what it is. There was no contract, there was no mobilisation and neither Anambra nor Delta State is the cause of the delay in starting work on the second Niger Bridge.”

The Nigerian Tribune learnt that the bridge which was estimated to cost N1.2 billion by the time the idea was muted 17 years, is now put at over N50 billion.

To worsen the situation, the second Niger Bridge idea which was floated by the government of military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, has not been budgeted for in any of the yearly budgets of the government neither has it been advertised for biding. But to keep hope alive for the project, intermittent mention has always been made about it.