The Minister of Works, Engineer Nweze David Umahi has commended the Group Chairman, United Bank for Africa, Mr Tony Elumelu, the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and others for the great support they offered during the repairs and reopening of the failed section of Independence Bridge Lagos.
The minister, through his Special Adviser (Media), Hon Barr Orji Uchenna Orji in a statement over the weekend praised Elumelu and others for “their calls and encouragement. They even requested that they send their planes to carry us, and we said no”.
Engineer Umahi then went ahead to talk about the new policy of involving stakeholders and others before approval for closure of federal roads nationwide.
The Minister’s spokesman in the statement said “in keeping with the abiding sense of responsibility and proactiveness of the Renewed Hope administration of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR the Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency, Sen. Engr. Nweze David Umahi, CON has fixed the failed section of Independence bridge, Lagos, which was closed for repairs on 2nd April 2025, and which closure caused untold hardship to Lagosians due to gridlock, necessitating the visit of the Honourable Minister of Works on 3rd April 2025 less than 24 hours of the incident.
“In his speech to mark the opening of the bridge for traffic, the Honourable Minister said it was God’s grace and enablement that informed the timeous success recorded in fixing the bridge. He noted that the reason for the closure of the bridge was not for pleasure but for a technical failure of the approach slab, which affected the strength and utility of the bridge.
“He, however, expressed displeasure that the right procedure for the closure was not followed, and that was the reason why the public was taken unawares. He said, “So, the reason for the closure was not for pleasure. It was because it became very dangerous for commuters to use the place. But we didn’t do it in the right way. And now, we had a design for the project, and I’ve looked at the design that we intended to use by using God’s wisdom and grace and experience, and we have agreed to redesign the project. It’s going to be redesigned as one span in a bridge.”
Packaged by Olayinka Agboola
