Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The Federal Government has hinted that it might block the Second Niger Bridge if miscreants continued to vandalise the metal components on the bridge.
This is as the Government has blamed delays in completing the project on insecurity in the region.
Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr Mahmuda Mamman, who hinted this during a visit to ascertain the level of the recent vandalism of the metal components, condemned the activities of hoodlums stalling the project.
The Permanent Secretary urged security agencies to intensity surveillance on the bridge and deal with anyone caught vandalising the metal components.
“We are here to see the level of vandalisation of the Second Niger Bridge. It was an unfortunate situation that all of us woke up to the trending news of vandalisation of some metal components on the bridge.
“This is a massive investment put up by the Federal Government in order to ease movement of goods and services to Nigeria. To me, free movement is a basic human right and all of us must take collective responsibility to safeguard it.
“We have interfaced with the contractor handling the project, Julius Berger and it is really unfortunate. The Federal Government has actually done what it is supposed to do.
“We have written to security agencies concerned asking them to intensify surveillance activities along the road so that such things will not happen.
“At the same time, host communities have a responsibility to play because safeguarding national asserts is not a responsibility of one man; it is a collective responsibility.
“What the miscreants are actually after, are the metal components on the bridge; anything metal, the miscreants are after it and it will be vandalised and at the end of the day, if care is not taken, the entire bridge will become unmotorable.
“That is why it is good for us as stakeholders to make sure we safeguard this infrastructure in the interest of public good and the nation.”
On the delay in the completion of the project, he said: “We have interfaced with the contractor and he said the major challenge why the project is not completed is because of security concerns.
“With the recent development, we are hoping that all things being equal, that is the commitment he gave us, in the next three weeks, everything about the Second Niger Bridge will be completed.”
Mamman who noted that the bridge was still under maintenance by the construction company that built it, expressed optimism that the company would replace the vandalised items before handing over.
