2018 budget: Ohanaeze reacts to cut in second Niger bridge allocation

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the socio-cultural organisation of the Igbo extraction of Nigeria, has tasked the federal government over timely completion of the second Niger Bridge project.

The organisation called on the federal government to send a supplementary budget to the National Assembly, in view of the huge slash in allocation for the project in the 2018 budget.

The Anambra state chairman of the organisation, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, who spoke to journalists, said the reduction in budgetary allocation for such critical infrastructure was unacceptable and not in the best interest of the people.

The second Niger Bridge, which is under construction was designed as a second bridge across the River Niger between Asaba in Delta State and Onitsha in Anambra State.

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Ogene, who demanded for amendment, noted that early completion of the second Niger bridge was important to reduce the burden on the existing bridge, which has remained the major link to the various parts of the country that drives the tempo of socio-economic activities.

He cautioned against playing politics or linking such critical project that impacts directly on the lives of the people, to elections, lamenting that the pace of work on federal road projects in the South-East region has remained very slow and unimpressive.

The Ohanaeze state president stated that the most effective way to quell mass agitations in the country was to ensure even distribution of democracy dividends to give everybody a sense of belonging irrespective of their ethnic or religious leanings.