The Minister of Work, Egnr David Umahi, has warned all the federal controllers of works and engineers across the federation never to close any road or bridge to motorists without his permission.
The warning follows the sudden closure of the Independent Bridge which resulted into serious traffic jam along Ahmadu Bello Way, Bonny Camp, Onikan and many parts of Victoria Island,Lagos on Wednesday.
According to eyewitnesses, many motorists spent more than three hours in the traffic, which prompted Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to visit the scene on Thursday.
Apparently not impressed by the ugly development, Minister of Work, David Umahi, has ordered remedial work on the bridge so that it can be open for public use latest this Sunday
He said that nobody informed him about the closure of the bridge peradventure the public would have been sensitised better.
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He apologised to Lagosians and to President Bola Tinubu for the trouble the closure caused the entire residents and the nation.
Umahi said, I use the opportunity to warn all controllers and engineers all over the country, never you close the road or close any bridge without running to the Permanent Secretary who will seek for the permission from the Minister of Works. And so there will be consequences. Desperate action for this.
“I’m here as directed by Mr. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He watched the agony that the people went through yesterday for the reason of closing of this Independence Bridge for rehabilitation.
“He was very highly displeased. Even though the subject matter which is to rehabilitate the already collapsed return wall of the Independence Bridge was very very important.
“He has asked me to be in Lagos and to free the traffic and to get the work done. And that’s why I’m here. Let me commend the Governor of Lagos State who was here earlier and he spoke to me.
“The efforts of the Lagos State Government in redirecting traffic that has eased the gridlock that we experienced yesterday. And so I’ve looked at the structural problems of the bridge. We designed the rehabilitation.
“But unfortunately when the bridge was to be closed I was not informed. The controller did that on her own and it’s very unfortunate.
“Because for a bridge to be closed, especially in Lagos, has been the tradition I should be informed as a minister. We should also have studied the implication of it.
“Even though it’s an emergency situation, we would have deployed emergency evaluation of the implication of closing the bridge.”
He said the plan presently is to restore the bridge temporarily within the next three days.
He continued, “By Sunday, this place will be totally open. And then after two weeks, we will look at the settlements. And then we will take out three days to put the permanent structure.
“So the method that I’ve agreed with the contractor is going to be foolproof. You know, first of all we’re going to fill the entire space with sharp sand. And then put stone base of up to 450mm thick.”
“And we’re going to open it for traffic for two weeks. And after two weeks then we start decompile. But it’s going to be in sections.
“We divide the entire carriageway into two. We do the first, we guide the traffic through the half carriageway.
“And then we do permanent work on the other carriageway. But the important thing is to ensure that the sand will not escape. If sand escapes, then it will be a different method,” the minister said.
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