Minister of Works opens rehabilitated independence bridge in Lagos

• Urges Lagosians to use the bridge from today 4th April 2025.

The Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency, Sen. Engr. Nweze David Umahi CON has restated the unwavering commitment of the Renewed Hope administration of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR towards ensuring compliance with the best construction methodologies, techniques and processes in all federal road construction projects across the 6 Geo-Political Zones to achieve optimal delivery with minimal inconvenience to road users.

A statement signed by Hon. Barr. Orji Uchenna Orji, Special Adviser ( Media) to the Honourable Minister of Works, noted that the Honourable Minister made this declaration when he visited Independence Bridge Lagos on Thursday, 3rd April 2025, less than 24 hours after the ugly experience of gridlock by Lagosians on the bridge under rehabilitation.

He expressed the displeasure of Mr. President over the hardship occasioned on Nigerians by the reason of the sudden closure of the bridge for emergency works. He frowned at the method of closure adopted by the Federal Controller of Works in charge of Lagos which fell short of the standing practice of the Federal Ministry of Works but he accepted responsibility and apologized for the inconveniences the closure has caused the road users.

He said, “The President saw the hardship occasioned on Nigerians by reason of the sudden closure of this Independence Bridge for emergency rehabilitation.”

He noted, “Even though I didn’t give the approval, I’m aware of it. We did the design, and we agreed for the rehabilitation to be done. But normally, before a bridge is closed in Lagos, usually I was always contacted, and I was always giving approval. And normally, I would come down to Lagos, and then with the Lagos State Government, we would agree on alternative routes. We announce it for more than two weeks, and then we deploy the right engineering method statement to do that. And so, this time around, we didn’t go through that process, and that’s why we had this hardship. So, Mr. President directed I should come down to Lagos and stay here until this problem is solved.”

He said, “I’m not going until the bridge is fully restored. We will work day and night to restore it, and then we all together to evaluate it. And so again and again, I thank Lagos State Government. I thank Lagosians for their patience. And I apologize again and again, first to my boss, Mr. President, that this hardship caused Lagosians is not the intention, but we meant well.”

He admonished all Federal Controllers of Works nationwide to heed to the construction standards and never to close road without approval first sought and obtained from the Honourable Minister of Works. Giving insight into the massive construction works going on under the Renewed Hope administration, the Honourable Minister stated over 260 critical federal road projects are going on nationwide in line with the Renewed Hope agenda of stimulating sustainable economic growth through aggressive road infrastructure development, and for this he thanked Mr. President immensely.

” I want to use this opportunity to say that no Controller of Works and no engineer in the Ministry of Works should close the road or close any bridge without getting permission through the permanent secretary to me. And then approval is given in writing. And, of course, for FERMA, the MD and the Perm Secretary must go through the Honourable Minister of State. And if it’s going to cause a major gridlock, the Honourable Minister of State will let me know.  So, I will visit the place, and then we use a technical solution and deploy a better method statement,” he said.

He emphasized, “So, we have over 260 major projects that the President is intervening on across the entire geo-political zones. Some of them are new projects, and some others are inherited ongoing projects.”

He noted that some of the bridges  have stayed for donkey years without adequate maintenance and commended Mr. President for his administration’s timely intervention on the maintenance and rehabilitation of the bridges.

He said of the 3rd Mainland bridge and Cater bridge, “On  Carter Bridge and  Third Mainland Bridge, the underwater works, and  the superstructure, Julius Berger is working on them. As we talk  now, we are understudying what is happening with our pipes inside the water. Within the next two weeks, we’ll come up with the solution to handle it. That’s why we presently closed the Third Mainland Bridge against heavy trucks. So that we’ll be able to solve the problem of what is happening inside the water once and for all. ”

Responding  to the allegations and threats of one woman on social media who gave her name as  Tracynither Nicolas  Ohiri and who claimed to be a business woman and purportedly supplied campaign materials to him during  his Governorship campaign  in 2014,  the Honourable Minister dismissed  the allegations and accusations by the woman as absolutely unfounded, pretentiously orchestrated and politically  masterminded by detractors to ingloriously sully his reputation for selfish  motives.

He challenged the woman to show proof of such transaction, noting that the accusation of sexual harassment is ridiculous as such baseless and substanceless accusations have become  a stock in trade of some women who are desperate to bring down the good name of perceived enemies for unpatriotic gains. He said that a legal redress  is underway to serve as a deterrence to others.