- An accident waiting to happen
Apapa-Ijora Bridge in Lagos, which is gradually collapsing has brought to the fore, once again, the country’s lack of maintenance culture. This is evident in almost every public institution. Apart from corruption, one of the things responsible for the epileptic power supply in the country was the lack of maintenance of power facilities for decades, particularly under the military. The same applies to our refineries and pipelines that have suffered decades of neglect and have become problematic as we can no longer get the best from them.
Many roads have also become impassable due to long periods of neglect. It is only of recent that the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is being fixed after decades of abandonment. There are many other roads and bridges, including even pedestrian bridges all over the country crying for attention.
The state of Apapa-Ijora Bridge is saddening because it is a major artery to Apapa, home of Nigeria’s most utilised seaports. Because rail and water transportation have almost collapsed, we necessarily depend on roads to transport imported goods, including fuel, to various parts of the country from the ports. This has put more stress on the roads even as it has become a nightmare for commuters.
That the bridge which is in the heart of Lagos could degenerate to the extent it has is either a fallout of the centralisation of maintenance of such facilities nationwide, or irresponsibility on the part of the officials, or both. According to report, the Lagos office of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) at Ijora, said it was awaiting the reply of the technical report on the state of the bridge it forwarded to the agency’s headquarters in Abuja. This however contradicts the statement of one other official in the Lagos office who said FERMA was in the process of carrying out checks on the bridge.
Yet, this is a bridge that one does not have to be an engineer to know that it is a disaster waiting to happen. Its expansion joints are broken, with columns supporting it peeling off even as the integrity of its alignment is suspect. According to a trader under the bridge, “there is always unusual vibration under the bridge when trucks travel over the expansion joints.” Indeed, the bridge has been neglected for over 10 years, despite the fact that it was engulfed in fire about four years ago, which worsened its condition. Matters have been compounded in the last one year by heavy duty vehicles, oil tankers and container-laden trucks that have converted the bridge to a parking bay. All of these have translated into prolonged traffic jam, damage to vehicles and avoidable stress that commuters suffer on the bridge.
In more civilised climes, the bridge would have been closed to traffic to prevent avoidable incidents that could occur if it suddenly collapsed. The Lagos State government had sometime ago taken the proactive decision to relocate some cab operators and traders under the bridge due to the fear that it might collapse unexpectedly.
We are not happy that mum has been the word from FERMA officials in Abuja. It must speak up on the matter. We do not have to wait for the bridge to collapse and wreak havoc before doing something about it. We wonder how many such death traps there are all over the country if a main bridge like the Apapa-Ijora Bridge in the centre of Lagos could be so recklessly abandoned.
