Wazobaa-Wazobia-Yoruba-Hausa-Igbo-Nigeria-News

National Emergence Mana-gement Agency (NE-MA)has issued an alert over the precarious position of the Niger Bridge which is the major gateway linking the eastern states of the to other parts of the country.
Ahead of the Christmas celebration which comes with it an unprecedented heavy movement of holiday makers using the bridge, a report from an on-the-spot inspection visit carried out by NEMA said the “bridge is being overloaded and this has heightened the fear that it might collapse if adequate measures were not taken”.
A statement signed by NEMA’s spokesman, Mr. Yushau A. Shuaib , said the Director-General of the NEMA, Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Audu-Bida (rtd) was alarmed when some experts from Federal Ministry of Transportation in Anambra State told him during the inspection of the bridge in Onitsha, that vandals of spare parts are constantly removing some bolts and parts from the bridge for sale.
Speaking shortly after being briefed by officials of the Federal Ministry of Transportation and Setraco Nigeria Ltd on what should be done to avoid the collapse of the bridge, Audu-Bida said the agency would submit a report on the state of the bridge to the federal government for further action.
He said there has been a paradigm shift in the manner NEMA deals with disaster management, adding that the emphasis is now on disaster risk reduction through early warning signals.
According to him, NEMA has decided to be proactive by being ahead of the disaster which called for possible prediction of natural disaster before they occur.
The statement quoted the Deputy Director in charge of works in the Ministry of Transportation, Mr. Sylvester Jijingi, as saying that the bridge is being overloaded leading to a heightened fear that it might collapse if adequate measures were not taken.
According to him, at the time the bridge was designed, it was not envisaged that it should carry the kind of load it is currently subjected to which has made it unsafe.
In addition, he said, there is the issue of vandalism whereby hoodlums have been removing parts of the bridge that were helping to maintain the structural integrity of the bridge.
He said the permanent solution to the continued existence of the bridge was to study how the river could be stopped from changing its direction and exerting undue pressure on the bridge.
Audu-Bida directed experts involved in the maintenance of the ailing bridge to send detailed report on the condition of the bridge to him immediately to enable his office advice the federal government appropriately.