Minister of Works David Umahi has stirred up social media again. This comes days after he announced plans for the Federal Government to engage 4,000 influencers to showcase President Bola Tinubu’s achievements.
Umahi caused another stir online by telling Senior Special Assistants from the South-East and South-South to decorate the First Niger Bridge with Tinubu’s pictures. The bridge links Onitsha in Anambra State to Asaba in Delta State, but it is currently closed for repairs after vandals took away important parts.
The vandals removed bolts, nuts, and parts of the steelwork that are key to the bridge’s expansion joints. Because of this damage, authorities closed the bridge earlier this month. Officials had hoped to reopen it on September 21, but heavy rain pushed that date back by a week.
A viral video shows Umahi inspecting the repair work on Wednesday. He also told his aides to take down all illegal ads from the infrastructure. He explained that putting up the president’s pictures would recognize his “good works.”
He said, “All the illegal advertisements on the bridge should be removed. If anyone wants to advertise anything, they have to apply to the Ministry of Works. In the meantime, the south-south and south-east SSA to Mr President would have to fertilise the bridge, they’ll beautify, they’ll colour it with the president’s pictures because the president deserves to be appreciated for the quick intervention and the quality of work that he is doing in this place.”
Umahi directed that additional solar lights be added to the bridge and ordered officials to finish installing CCTV cameras. He also announced the creation of a committee to assess the bridge, both above and below the water.
“I’ve directed that additional solar lights should be installed and the CCTV should be completed and linked to the Second Niger Bridge immediately. I’ve also set up a committee to go and do an empirical evaluation of what is happening below the water level and above the water level under this bridge. And they will report to me before the end of work tomorrow,” the minister said.
He mentioned that the bridge will reopen to traffic next week once contractors finish key repairs on this major route between Anambra and Delta States. According to him, SKECC has made good progress in fixing the damage, replacing the stolen bolts and securing them properly.
He said the specialized expansion joint that the vandals took has also been produced and shipped to Nigeria for installation. The minister added that the bridge will only open once all safety standards have been met.
He then told SKECC to do more work, including repainting structural parts, caps, and inner carriageway sections.
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