Again yuletide is fast approaching, giving a clutch of heart attack cases sleepless nights while commuters prepare for yet another nightmare as they plan to travel to various destinations across the River Niger.
For those who must travel from the South- West, parts of the South –South and the North to the South-East and other areas in the South-South, there is no dodging the Niger Bridge as it is the major link across.
Some travellers to the lower Middle Belt are affected too as they ply the same route. Travelling across the Niger Bridge at this time is a harrowing experience which is neither good for the health of road users nor for the vehicles that spend days trying to make a journey that ordinarily should not take more than five minutes.
It is more than a mystery that compatriots are forced to go through this yearly ritual of torment. It has become a symbol of wickedness on the part of the Federal Government.
Beginning from 1980, past governments, from Dodan Barracks to Aso Rock/Villa, from Lagos to Abuja looked the other way while road users groaned under the sun, cried at night and wailed all day just because they had to make use of the Niger Bridge at Onitsha.
President Ibrahim Babangida showed some concern and even took it to another dimension when he challenged Nigerian engineers to design a Second Niger Bridge.
That was at a time his minister of works , Maj. Gen Mamman Kontangora was always on the road trying to fix many of the Trunk A Routes across the country.
Since the return of democracy, the story has been that of mischief and politics at the highest level. President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has in-laws across the Niger was expected to do the needful.
As a veteran of the Civil War, the importance of the Niger Bridge was not lost on him. What Obasanjo offered was more politics. In building a Second Niger Bridge, he wanted to share the Federal Government’s responsibility with the Governments of Anambra and Delta whose sin was that the River Niger passes through their territory.
Each of the two states was expected to contribute 10 billion Naira to finance the construction of a new bridge. The height of political deceit came from President Goodluck Jonathan.
Just as he was nursing larger presidential ambitions towards the end of his first tenure, he hoodwinked fellow citizens into believing that at last the Messiah who would fix everything had arrived.
In his words:” When the first bridge was built, it was during the Presidency of Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Second Niger Bridge will be built under the Presidency of Azikiwe Jonathan. If I fail to build the bridge in 2015, I will go into exile.”
In March 2014, Dr. Jonathan performed the ground breaking ceremony to begin the construction of the Second Niger Bridge. The estimated cost was put at 117.9 billion Naira in what Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said would involve Private Public Partnership [PPP].
Prominent men from the Igbo speaking states were there. Governors Peter Obi of Anambra, Ahamefula Orji of Abia, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha and Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, applauded that Presidential declaration.
It turned out to be a huge lie as not much was achieved before President Muhammadu Buhari changed the equation, compelling Jonathan to vacate Aso Villa. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has not lived up to his words by going on exile. Work stopped at the site of construction even while he campaigned for re-election. That is the situation today.
The Second Niger Bridge remains buried in the politics of deceit played by past Nigerian leaders including those whose kith and kin must make use of the facility.
It is even no credit to Dr. Jonathan who got so much in terms of solidarity from the South-East and the South –South. Should President Buhari choose to go the way of his predecessors, it may not make news headlines.
The people of the South -East and South- South did not contribute much to his electoral victory. Those who will not be disappointed are the ones that have written off the President especially after his infamous 95 and five percent speech.
However, Buhari seems to be the one who has shown capacity to realize the dream of a Second Bridge across the Niger.He has made promises and from his body language, is not going to dance to the gallery like those before him. Recently, he granted audience to Senators from the South- East.
There are indications that there were fruitful deliberations concerning the state of roads and other infrastructure in the geo-political zone. It is also possible that they forgot to remind the president of the Second Niger Bridge. While Nigerians wait, we call on President Buhari to put politics aside and focus on the Niger Bridge this Yuletide.
There have been meetings between the Federal Road Safety Commission [FRSC] and the governors of Anambra and Delta States. Our prayer is that President Buhari sets up a Task Force as a matter of national emergency to oversee traffic on the lone Niger Bridge immediately.
This will go a long way to prove that out of the unexpected, great expectations emerged. Nigerians do not deserve the hell called gridlock on the Niger Bridge.
