Friday, April 4, 2025 - The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said that he was unaware of the closure of the Independence Bridge in Lagos state.
The ex-governor of Ebonyi State made this known while
speaking to journalists during a visit to the site on Thursday, April 3, in
Lagos.
Umahi said it was “very unfortunate” that the Federal
Controller of Works in Lagos State, Mrs Olukorede Keisha, would unilaterally
take a decision of that magnitude without his approval. He stated that such a
major decision, especially in a city like Lagos, should have been discussed at
the ministerial level before execution.
“I was not
informed. The controller did that on her own, and it’s very unfortunate.
Because for a bridge to be closed, especially in Lagos, as, you know, as it has
been the tradition, I should be informed as the minister. And we should also
have studied the implications of it, even though it’s an emergency situation.
We would have deployed an emergency evaluation of the implications of closing
the bridge.
Was there
any other thing we would have done? And then why do we take time to do the
proper work?
And so I use
the opportunity to warn all controllers and engineers all over the country.
Never you close the route or close any bridge without going through the
Permanent Secretary, who will seek permission from the Honorable Minister of
Works. And so there will be consequences, disciplinary action for this.”
The Minister issued a public apology to Lagos residents and
President Bola Tinubu for the disruptions caused by the closure.
‘’Let me
apologise to Lagosians and Mr. President for the trouble this closure caused
the entire Lagosians and of course, the nation. I take responsibility for it,
even though I did not order it. But every action by any staff or minister of
works, I take responsibility for that.
So I’m not
shying away from the failure that this sudden closure caused. If we were to do
this properly, there would be a different kind of statement we would have
deployed. And we wouldn’t have necessitated total closure.
And even if we were going to
close, we would have done it in such a way that we take three days- Friday,
Saturday, Sunday, and then we would have put in place the remedial work that
would be necessary. So what we are doing now is to restore the bridge temporarily
within the next three days. By Sunday, this place will be totally open. And
then after two weeks, we will look at the settlements. Then, we will take three
days to put up the permanent structure. That is what we’re going to do.”
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