ACTING President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday paid and inspection visit to the collapsed Bakino bridge at Tatabu community near Mokwa in Niger State, assuring that the flow of vehicular traffic on the Ilorin-Mokwa-Jebba road affected by the incident would be normalized within two weeks.
He said the Federal Government has commenced work to make the road passable pending the commencement of work on re-construction of the bridge.
Osinbajo who visited the site for an on-the-spot assessment, gave the assurance having received assurances from top government officials including Power, Works & Housing Minister, Mr Babatunde Fashola and the contractors on site.
According to a statement issued by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, the Acting President received briefs from relevant officials on site including the site engineers and supervisors from the Federal Ministry of Works before embarking on a tour of the collapsed bridge
Osinbajo expressed government’s full commitment committed to ending the difficulties on the Ilorin-Mokwa-Jebba road by addressing the remote causes of the deterioration on the road.
“The Minister of Works is working on a lasting solution but in the interim we have assurances from the contractors and engineers working here that this road will be made passable in about a fortnight,” he said.
He also assured that construction work on building a new bridge would commence but that it would take some time for it to be completed due to the slow movement of material from Ilorin to the site.
According to him, “The contractors have informed me that movement of material to this location would be difficult and slow because of the deplorable nature of the road but with the commitment and support of the Federal Road Safety Corps and other agencies, the job would be done in good time.”
He added the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport were both working on a more lasting solution that will reduce the over-dependence on the highway especially by diverting the movement of heavy duty cargo from the roads to the railways.
Osinbajo urged the affected communities to be patience while government’s efforts were in top gear to fix both the collapsed bridge and the road.
He was accompanied on the visit by Mr Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing; the Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Bello, the Estu Nupe, HRH, Dr Yahaya Abubakar and other senior government officials.
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