Engineer Adeyemo Ajani, the Controller, Federal Ministry of Works in charge of Anambra State, has called on government and other concerned stakeholders to intervene in the crisis between warring communities and the government contractors as a result of the construction of the Second Niger Bridge in Onitsha.
Ajani, who spoke to newsmen at his office in Awka, on Wednesday said if there is no quick intervention, it might affect the completion of the Second Niger Bridge.
He disclosed that work has stopped at the site because of some demands being made by the communities and the workers.
According to him, the project does not have any issues in terms of funding but the communities are trying to delay the project completion through their agitations and demands.
“Among all the presidential initiative funding project, Second Niger Bridge is the only one that has no problem in terms of funding,”he stated.
Recall that some communities from Anambra and Delta States had forcefully stopped work on the site, alleging that the project manager has not given them their dues.
According to Ajani, the demands of the communities are about N500 million. He wondered how such money could be raised for those communities.
He said the project may be delayed due to the crisis being created by the communities and workers.
According to him, the Memorandum of Understanding between the communities and the contractors are not yet signed due to demands of N500 million community projects.
“The Memorandum of Understanding MoU between the contractors and the communities has not been signed. One of the reasons for not signing it was that the communities are demanding N50m project in each community, which totals up to N500 million. We are asking government to step in and resolve the problem,” he said.
According to him, work at the Second Niger Bridge has stopped and we are asking for government and stakeholders’ intervention so that work can continue and the bridge completed as scheduled.
He also urged workers on the site to be patient with the contractors on their demands for an increase in transportation allowances and promotions of junior workers.
Ajani said their demands are not supposed to create problem since they are looking into them.