“Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.”
—Albert Einstein
By Cosmas Omegoh
Minister of Works, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), on Wednesday announced the completion of the controversial Second Niger Bridge.
Mr Fashola spoke in Abuja at a press conference to showcase the achievements of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Fashola declared: “I can confirm that the Second Niger Bridge itself is finished. People can walk through the bridge now unimpeded.”
He disclosed that “what is remaining is a 4km interchange road at the Asaba end, and 2kms out of a 7km-link road at the Onitsha end. What remains is the 4-kilometer link road on the Asaba side.”
Fashola added that the present administration was targeting to make the bridge ready in December. That way, travellers would have a huge relief. They would be spared the legendary gridlock on the old bridge at every Yuletide.
Fashola also spoke about other ongoing Federal Government road projects: the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, and the Abuja-Kano expressway, among others.
What Fashola said about the Second Nigeria Bridge, left a beleaguered citizenry marooned at all fronts something to cheer.
Those who have spent long horrendous hours that seemed like a lifetime at the Asaba end of the old bridge while waiting to cross into Onitsha still recall their experiences with trepidation. Many have had such a punishing encounter worse experienced than described.
Going by what Fashola said, the perennial pain awaiting travellers every December might be over for good. Those who will be crossing the lower Niger this year at Christmas are promised a smooth ride.
Yes, from the old bridge, the new one beckons, straddling the lower course of the Niger, while standing in its majesty. The facility glitters in awe, new as dawn as the mid-morning sun beats down on it. Call it a testimonial of Buhari’s acclaimed “high-impact projects.”
Many believe that Mr Fashola has fared well on the project; that what is left now is like adding icing on the cake. Thereafter, the long-suffering commuters eternally awaiting its completion will go on to experience real relief.
Some stakeholders say going forward, there is every reason for every Nigerian from Warri to Wurno and Oyo to Uyo to be happy about the turn of things. That at last, this age-long project has been finally completed.
Those who spoke believe that over the years, the bridge project has been a subject of high-level politics and politicking. So, now, no one – except those with very short memory will ever use it again as a campaign gimmick.
Some elders recall that as far back as when the Second Niger Bridge was believed to have been conceived, administration and after administration had used it either to hoodwink or woo or cajole the people of the Southeast. It had remained on the front burner as a carrot to be dangled at the region.
Linking Anambra with Delta State, the Second Niger Bridge is in actual sense, a key gateway to all – a very vital asset to the people of the Southwest, Southeast, South-south, and North-central regions. And there is no forgetting that foreigners too, use it as they crisscross the country.
Those who see things that way are, therefore, unhappy that to a very large extent, the Second Niger Bridge has always remained topical. That the impression handed every first-time visitor to Nigeria is that the project is the first to be constructed across the River Niger to please the Southeast. They suggest that this is a thought everyone must perish.
One of the commentators recently recalled that there have been bridges quietly built across the River Niger at Jebba in Kwara State, Kotonkarfi and another one in Lokoja after the confluence, and yet another linking the East -West road in the Niger Delta. Similar bridges also have been built across River Benue in Markudi and Katsina Ala in Benue State, yet, no one talks about them with as much relish and hype. Only the Second Niger Bridge is being spoken about with so much loudness.
Recall that Fashola had admitted that flood had hampered the completion of the remaining work on the bridge. That triggers fears of what the facility might suffer in the days ahead if the measures are not taken. It is, therefore, good that the rampaging flood had served full notice of its ability to harm if it is taken for granted. That is where the contractor handling the project should focus more right now.
Looking back, not many might say exactly when the Second Niger Bridge idea was first conceived. But most people believe that the project was mooted many years ago, perhaps in the 1960s.
The idea, however, received major attention in 1987 after Abubakar Umar, the then Minister of Works and Housing, in the military régime of General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) issued a caveat that the old bridge – “a 1960s steel truss structure with two lanes” was being stressed.
Then Gen. Ibrahim Babangida tasked the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) to design the bridge. And they did indeed – a master plan.
It was gathered that NSE’s plan was ambitious and futuristic, with a provision made for East-West rail line. It was also wider, bearing in mind how costly it will be to run a separate rail line across the River Niger in future. Their plan prefigured President Buhari’s ambitious, hard-to-realise coastal railway idea now about to be forgotten.
It was, therefore, learnt that the Second Niger Bridge due for delivery did not incorporate facilities captured by NSE.
It was further gathered that after the exit of Gen. Babangida, the bridge idea project was tossed into limbo.
However, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo dusted it after he became president in 1999, and later gave it a look in. But it all ended a gimmick, as no significant work was done on it, although he carried out its flag off in Asaba.
Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was said to have inherited the project whose cost was believed to be in the region of N58.6 billion at that time comprising six-lanes.
At that time, the project was to be financed under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme. It was said that 60 per cent of the funding was to come from the contractor; 20 per cent from the Federal Government, and 10 per cent from Anambra and Delta states governments respectively.
And upon completion, the bridge was to be tolled.
With the demise of President Yar’Adua, the project again suffered neglect.
But when former President Goodluck Jonathan came to power, he “approved a contract worth N325 million for the final planning and design of the bridge.”
He vowed to deliver it in 2015. Then after his failed re-election bid, the project was inherited by President Buhari in 2015.
The latter was said to have at first jettisoned the idea, but later had a rethink; then in 2018, he gave approval for the project to go on.
But some stakeholders are unhappy that the contract size was scaled down, the bridge’s width reduced, while the rail line component was yanked off, the same for the Gas Master Plan of Nigeria whose pipe was to pass under the bridge.
They argue that President Buhari might have reasons for his actions, but he ought to have left the project the way it was designed so as to provide expected future values.
It was learnt that the project is being driven by the Federal Ministry of Works collaboration with the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), with Julius Berger Nigeria Plc as the major contractor.
Credit, therefore, goes to President Buhari, and especially Minister Fashola for seeing the Second Niger Bridge to reality. Posterity will remember each of them for their deeds.
Minister Fashola, a lawyer, and senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) is a two term-governor of Lagos State between May 29, 2007 and May 29 2015. He served as Minister of Works and Power and Housing in the first term of President Buhari
Born on June 28, 1963, in Lagos, he is married to Abimbola Fashola, and have children.