Fashola Recounts How IPOB Sit-At-Home Order Affected Delivery Of Second Niger Bridge

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has come out to state how the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) affected the delivery of the Second Niger Bridge project.

According to the minister, IPOB’s sit-at-home order was a great factor in the delay in the completion of the project.

Naija News reports that Fashola, who was featured on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, disclosed that the order hindered contractors of the project from the eastern side.

The minister explained how contractors were unable to work on Mondays for about two years, noting that the development contributed to the delivery date of the project.

He submitted that even though construction workers worked on Saturdays, but a 52-day loss can’t be easily made up for in construction works.

Fashola said, “These dates keep shifting and people must remember that on the eastern side, our contractors have not been able to work on Mondays for almost two years and that has affected the completion date.”

The minister also claimed that along with the IPOB‘s at-home order were other factors like the period used for the relocation of transmission lines connecting the east to the west across the Niger River.

He submitted that days lost and the obstacles that affected the early completion of the bridge within the time earlier stipulated all contributed to the delay of the project.

Naija News, however, gathered that the construction of the last 4km stretch of the road was taking place in marshland and as such, there is a great need for dredging and sand filling, a process which he says cannot be rushed.

Fashola disclosed that the ministry and its contractors made great progress on the road because they employed the use of Prefabricated Vertical Drains which accelerate settlement and drainage and aided workers to commence building quicker than would ordinarily have been expected.

The minister was, however, optimistic that the new target delivery date for the delivery of the Second-Niger Bridge will be April/May 2023 preferably, stating that inevitably the bridge will be tolled to ensure that it is maintained to serve Nigerians for many years.