₦airaland Forum

Tranquillity360:
God bless Gej for starting the bridge.

If not for that wicked man called buhari who stopped work immediately he enter in 2015 only to resume in the end of 2017 with snailly process.by now the bridge would have been ready.

EmptyCoconutHead:
for those useless ipobs saying the work is going slow, they shouldn't forget that we're talking of safety here since the bridge was designed for heavy trucks cos it's still the same ipob that will still criticize FG if the bridge later falls due to a hurried work.

ATTemi:
U think you’re doing me, you’re doing yourself!

SisterFire:
All these Yoruba people above me saying what dosent concern them ! Area4Area and Helinues idlemen

PearlStreet:
Ungrateful clowns.

Bridge that your fathers have been crying for since 1970 and your Idiotic Governors couldn't do.

Area4Area:
Wailers will just view and won't comment, thank God for Buhari

Area4Area:
Wailers will just view and won't comment, thank God for Buhari

Stolen:
http://www.authorityngr.com/2016/03/Outrage-as-FG-abandons-N140bn-2nd-Niger-Bridge-/

Mar 31, 2016

Outrage as FG abandons N140bn 2nd Niger Bridge

...Buhari should order Julius Berger back to site - Stakeholders

There is anger in the South East zone over the Federal Government’s abandonment of the N140 billion ($700 million) 2nd Niger Bridge.
Investigations by The AUTHORITY revealed that the contractor, Julius Berger Construction Company, stopped work on the project which is being constructed under Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement since April 2015.
Concerned citizens of Eastern Nigeria and other stakeholders are appealing to President Buhari to direct the construction company to resume work on the project.
After a private meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on August 26, 2015, the Director
General of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Aminu Diko, had hinted that work on the vital bridge would be suspended.
Dikko said: “The communities around that area are clamouring that their lands have been taken and that they have not been compensated adequately. As a matter of fact, we got a letter from the Onitsha Traditional Rulers Council complaining that they have not been adequately represented in this transaction.”
As that was raging, the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole called on the former Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolememen, to explain to Nigerians the whereabouts of the billions meant for the bridge as according to him, $700 million was drawn from the Sovereign Wealth Fund for the project.
The bridge’s contract was awarded by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan during the second term of former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi.
Onolememen had then assured Nigerians that the project would be completed before the expiration of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2015 as part of efforts to deliver on the campaign promises of that government.
But Jonathan lost in the election and immediately the contractor left the site.
The bridge is said to have been reflected in this 2016 Budget with hope that something tangible would be done to construct the bridge.
All the several efforts made by The AUTHORITY to speak with the management, including the Managing Director of Julius Berger Construction Company, Mr. Wolfgang Goetsch, on why work was stopped on the project, proved abortive.
Some stakeholders, however, claimed that the construction giant abandoned work immediately President Buhari took over the mantle of leadership about 10 months ago, following a presidential directive that work at the site should discontinue.
An employee of the firm (name withheld) who claimed he was recruited in April 2014 at the site of the bridge, admitted that Julius Berger had stopped work at the project site since June 2015 due to non-funding by the Federal Government.
According to him, the company only did soil texture and property evaluation before leaving the site with almost all their working equipment.
“So, if the Federal Government is ever serious about the project, let it release the money for work to start,” he said.
Comrade Casmir lzukanne, who lives close to the project site, said: “We don’t know why they stopped work and we are not happy or feel comfortable with the Federal Government, because this is the only bridge that links the South East to other parts of Nigeria and it’s economic importance to our country cannot be quantified.”
The Campaign for Democracy (CD) was emphatic on President Buhari as it called on the Federal Government to mobilise to the site of the 2nd Niger Bridge to end the marginalisation of Ndigbo.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Dede Uzor A.Uzor, CD wondered why such a national project should be abandoned and politicised.
Other stakeholders in Onitsha, Anambra State asked President Buhari to direct Julius Berger to return to site to continue the construction of the Second Niger Bridge.
The President of the Amalgamated Association of Anambra Traders (AMATAS), Chief Okwudili Ezenwankwo and the Chairman, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) Nze Emeka Umeagbalasi, among others, called on Buhari to direct Julius Berger to return to site.
Ezenwanko said that he was hopeful that work would resume again at the site because he reliably gathered that the bridge was included in this year’s budget, which has just been passed by the National Assembly.
Chief Anigbata, who also said that the bridge was reflected in this year’s budget, expressed the confidence that Buhari will execute the bridge because of its strategic importance to Nigeria and Ndigbo.
He said that the Federal Government needs to put an infrastructure like the Second Niger Bridge on the ground to boost trade, commerce and agriculture.
But Umeagbalasi expressed doubt in Buhari completing the bridge, given his disposition towards the Ndigbo, saying that they are watching him closely.
He called on the Ndigbo, especially political leaders, rights activists and media practitioners to continue to mount pressure on the president so that he may have a rethink, even if he was not keen.
On their part, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Igbo monarchs and other stakeholders, called on the Federal Government, to as a matter of urgent national importance, resume work on the 2nd Niger Bridge.
The Coordinator of the Seven States Chairmen of Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), Mazi Alex Okemiri, said the suspension of work on the project stands tall among the injustices against the Ndigbo.
He said the project had become a huge fraud against Ndigbo by successive administrations in the country.
Ohanaeze said the abandonment of the project had seriously undermined and sabotaged economic activities in the South East geopolitical zone which is known for trade and commerce.
In the same vein, the Chairman of Umuahia North Traditional Rulers Council, HRH Philip Ajomiwe, called for the immediate resumption of work on the abandoned project.
He described the suspension of work on the project as “very shocking, painful and unbelievable”, considering the economic and strategic importance of the Niger Bridge to the Nigerian economy.
Similarly, the Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA), represented by Sir Emma Nwakpadolu, lamented the ordeals of traders as a result of the perennial traffic congestion on the existing bridge which is in very bad shape.
He said that the high cost of transporting goods from Lagos and other Western parts of the country across the Niger have led to increase in prices of goods in the South East markets.
In his reaction, former Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State, Mr. Enyinnaya Onuegbu, said it was regrettable that work has stopped at the project, noting that initially, people were allowing the new administration time to reappraise the projects inherited from the past administration of Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
Onuegbu condemned the action because “that project is the most important construction project in Nigeria presently, and would have provided a modern route into the South East and South-South States. And also make the movement of people from Northern Nigeria into the South very easy.”
On his part, Hon. Henry Onwukwe, a PDP Caretaker Committee member in Imo State, said it is a very sad development and total confirmation of the marginalisation of the South East by President Buhari’s administration.
According to him, it goes to confirm that the Federal Government has adopted a deliberate policy to make sure that the Igbos don’t count in Nigeria, saying everybody knows that the second Niger Bridge would increase the economic activities of the Igbo Nation when completed, but because of President Buhari’s policy to keep down the Igbos, the bridge has been abandoned.
To the Chief Executive Officer of Goodwill Electrical Construction Company Limited, Chief Neighbour Onwukaike, it is not proper that the bridge was abandoned, for whatever reason, considering its vital importance to the people of the South East geopolitical zone.
He described it as one of the most unfortunate lot of the South East people of the country over the years, just as it has been seen as one of those strategies of depriving them of the dividends of democracy.
Mr. Eze Ananaba, who is the Chief Executive Officer of J. Anderson Construction Company Limited based in Aba, expressed doubt the correct contents of the contract awarded for the construction of the additional bridge which became imperative, owing to the old age of the first bridge built decades ago.
The businessman asked the relevant government agencies to make sure the contractors are brought back to site since as he noted, a lot of money has already been pumped into that project which he described as very strategic to the people of the South East and, indeed, their economies.
Contributing, Chief Henry Ikoh, the Abia State Commissioner for Science, Technology and Industry, posited that the abandonment of the 2nd Niger Bridge project is worrisome to both the people of the South-South and South East geopolitical zones, who are mainly into trade, commerce and industry.
The commissioner, who is also an industrialist of repute, stated that he would not say that the President Goodluck Jonathan administration did not do well in initiating the second Niger Bridge but faulted government for not doing the needed follow up that should have ensured its early completion.
For the Vice Chairman, Ebonyi State Traditional Rulers Council, HRH, Eze Romanus Iyioku, the abandoned 2nd Niger Bridge amounts to insult on the deep feeling of Igbos, should the Federal Government stop work on the Bridge.
He explained that the bridge would not only serve the interest of the South East geopolitical zone, but the economic interests of the Nigerian nation.


www.nairaland.com/attachments/3552500_images2_jpeg8a38ef15772cafb04789a7778aff64ab


www.nairaland.com/attachments/3552502_vllkyt7e0q6irsjfo_f9e8ec83_jpg7399183496daa5c12a37c3610d1f0dee

PearlStreet:
Keep crying while the bridge is being built.

When they complete it, you can collect kerosene from Ikpeazu, mix it with Sniper and drink.

helinues:
Work is progressing gradually.

In wailer's voice: Same pictures they have been showing us for years.. They are now taking the pictures from different angle

Super1Star:
Jan 13, 2016

NNEWI—THE recent budget release by the Federal Government was expected to feature some monetary allocation for the construction of the 2nd  Niger Bridge started by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, but unfortunately the allocation for the construction of the bridge is missing. This has elicited torrents of reaction from stakeholders in the Sout-East. Here are some of them.

President of Onitsha Chamber of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture, Mr. Uche Apakama, in his comments said, “I just want to believe that the information is not quite true that not capturing of the 2nd  Niger Bridge in the 2016  budget, means it has been abandoned, this is because it will be ridiculous the Federal Government would have forgotten such a sensitive and important project for the people of South East and South South and Nigerians in general.

“I want to assume, a big assumption that it is in the budget, but per adventure is not there, it can’t be explained to anybody, because we do not have the budget breakdown, we just heard about the big figures, we do not have the different allocations, so we do not know the details of those allocations and therefore they should tell us what happened.

“It will be a total disservice to Ndigbo, South South and Nigeria in general to abandon the bridge, I was listening to the Presidents first Media Chat where he asked who are marginalizing the Ibos and how, he asked that question and this issue of alleged abandonment of 2nd  Niger Bridge is one  example  of his government marginalizing Ndigbo, if it is true.

“Abandonment of that bridge is one of the basic and clear instance of marginalization of the Ibos, we have only one access to leave the Ibo land for the West, it takes up to four or five hours to pass through Niger Bridge to enter Asaba approach of the bridge, we are suffering getting down here, to access our home land is almost impossible, very difficult, because of the single lane in the direction of the Niger Bridge as constructed, let us not even say that the Bridge is weak, even the volume of traffic it carries can no more suit the bridge like we have in the festive period of Christmas and New year,” he said.

Apakama, a pharmacist,  also stated that “we have a four year project period, we are waiting and are expected to wait for four years, hoping that in four years time, even though we have questioned the four years project period which is too long to complete the bridge because you do not use four years to build such bridge if it is properly funded, yet they are coming up with the plan of abandonment, if it is PPP funded, that is where Julius Berger will have to source its funds, it can be completed within a forty eight month period.


2nd-Niger-Bridge
“We seem to have been forgotten by the Federal Government in a country that we are part of, what happened last time with MASSOB and IPOB challenges are all part of the problem of marginalization.

In South East, we have a lot of things we are talking about that need to be addressed, we do not have appointments, no problem, we are still surviving, but things that belong to us like this bridge, government must show commitment, and show us that they are sincere about the issues concerning South East and the South South.

“I want to believe that the project is in the budget, if it is not, it is unfair for us not to have that bridge completed, it is unfair that one year will pass again and the bridge is not captured in the budget and therefore nothing will be happening there, it should be in the appropriated budget, it should not be in the supplementary budget, it should be the concern of the Federal Government of Nigeria that South East and South-South are not cut off from the rest of Nigeria.”

For his part Chief Ozoh Anaekwe, a former President General of Onitsha Markets Amalgamated Traders Association, OMATA, said,  “President Muhammadu Buhari has shown Nigerians and the world that he is anti-Igbo with the abandonment of the 2nd Niger Bridge project, I am telling Igbo leaders to rally round and tell the world, especially, Europe and America, the new friends of the present government, the condition President Buhari wants to place Igbo in Nigeria.

“No reasonable and responsible government in the world will abandon a project like 2nd Niger Bridge, if not for the reason of hatred, and not wanting anything good for a particular people, unfortunately the bridge is serving Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba and other ethnic groups, so it is a disservice to the nation and not to the Igbo people if it is abandoned.

“When some people say we did not vote for Buhari, that is why he is anti Igbo, I laugh, how can we vote for a man that does not come to campaign in Igbo land. Since he has been contesting elections, it was only this last one that made him President where he visited one or two South East states to campaign, he has disappointed Onitsha residents on three occasions he said he was coming for campaign and people waited, he never came and did not care to render apology, Onitsha houses all South East state people.

“I am calling on the Ministers from South East to resign from Buhari’s government because he does not mean well for Ndigbo and does not love them, after all he did not assign any reasonable position to them, why did he give three juicy Ministries to one person, when he gave South East Ministers that does not in any way affect their lives positively, the ministries he gave them which he is boasting that he has done well for Ndigbo does not add value to peoples life,” he said.

According to him “It is only the lawmakers that will make Buhari to change his mind and continue with the 2nd  Niger Bridge project, the Judiciary is playing along with him, the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, President is not interested to defend the Judiciary, he is playing along with the All Progressives Congress, APC, government, he should therefore, resign because he is sympathetic to the present government, he is NBA National President not APC government National President.

“I have no doubt that the present administration will not continue with the 2nd  Niger Bridge project because it was started by former President Goodluck and anything started or done by that administration is either seen as evil or being dismantled and seen as corrupt, even if the bridge is captured in the budget they will not do it, they think it  is Igbo people’s project. “Nigerians and the National Assembly should compel the President to continue the project, it is a Nigerian project not South East project, it was approved and kicked off by a responsible government he succeeded, if National Assembly fail to compel the President to continue that project it means they are afraid of him and that will be disaster for the country.

President of Osakwe Industrial Cluster, a small scale industrial operators based in Awada, near Onitsha, Mr. Johnson Okolo, said that “it has been one calamity or the other since the present government came with its change mantra, even though the South East people did not vote for President Buhari, we still believe that he is the President, we did not march to the streets to protest against his emergence and therefore, he should not work based on the people that voted him.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/abandonment-of-2nd-niger-bridge-south-easterners-react/

hardbody:
There is nothing like gratefulness over project that is being executed with my tax money. Nigerians are so shallow. Your government is doing what they ought to do and you are there expecting people to show gratitude. Hold your leaders accountable irrespective of party or geographical divide. It is still one indissoluble country until the status changes.

Monday60655:
Why do they keep on recycling these pictures to deceive people. These pictures has been making headlines with different caption

ATTemi:
Honestly this are same pictures from last year but taken from different angle!

I stand to be corrected.

Jasparrow1:
Me sef tire for them oo. Most especially that Helinues of a guy. Very foolish human being Afonjas won't mind their fvcking business. Foolish animals

frankmoney:
How long is this bridge that it's taking two decades to complete

PearlStreet:
Go and put headpan on the head of your elders drinking kerosene in the village let them proceed to site and complete it.

Flatheaded ingrate.

Jasparrow1:
Me sef tire for them oo. Most especially that Helinues of a guy. Very foolish human being Afonjas won't mind their fvcking business. Foolish animals

PearlStreet:
Go and put headpan on the head of your elders drinking kerosene in the village let them proceed to site and complete it.

Flatheaded ingrate.

anonimi:
Is it not the liars in the Alliance of Past/Present Crooks, APC again?
Do they know anything else apart from telling lies?


www.nairaland.com/attachments/6398775_fbimg1508963617334_jpeg94872504a733fb923709da609fd79d53

Amumaigwe:
No single worker on site. This has been like this since January this year. They should just commission this abandoned project and let us be. Mcheew.

BlackfireX:
Audio bridge that will used for campaign to hoodwinked the igbos to vote for there candidates.
Most of those pictures are computer generated. Nothing like that exist. Not too long I passed there








A storm is coming

ATTemi:
Honestly this are same pictures from last year but taken from different angle!

I stand to be corrected.