Fashola Says IPOB ‘Sit-At-Home’ Affected Completion of Second Niger Bridge.

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola today stated that the sit-at-home order by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) contributed immensely to the seeming delay in completion of the Second Niger Bridge project.

Fashola made this disclosure today said that on the eastern side, contractors have not been able to work on Mondays for almost two years which and that has affected the completion date, stressing that while construction workers work on Saturdays, a 52-day loss cannot easily be made up for in construction work.

The minister further asserted that certain other challenges liken relocating transmission lines connecting the East to the West across the Niger River, contributed to days lost and added to the snag that affected the early completion of the bridge within the time earlier stipulated.

Fashola emphasized that the reason the ministry and its contractors have made great progress on the road so far, is because they have employed the use of Prefabricated Vertical Drains which accelerate settlement and drainage and as such, workers can start building quicker than would ordinarily have been expected.

The minister however promised that the new target date to deliver a perfectly completed Second-Niger Bridge will be April/May 2023, adding that inevitably the bridge will be tolled to ensure that it is maintained to serve Nigerians for many years.