₦airaland Forum

No Plans to Close Third Mainland Bridge
From Patrick Ugeh in Abuja and Efem Nkanga in Lagos, 07.18.2008

Repair works on some loose joints on the highly strategic Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos, will commence on Saturday, August 2, 2008 at noon, and not today as reported.
But the all-important link bridge between Lagos Mainland and the Island, the major business hub of the nation, will not be closed to traffic although vehicular movement will be streamlined.
Mr. John Albertazzi, a representative of the contracting firm, Messrs Borini Prono, revealed this after a stakeholders’ meeting yesterday at the glasshouse office of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Abuja.
Federal Controller of Works, Lagos, Mr. Tunde Ekunsumi, also said that movement on the bridge had been designed to flow effortlessly rather than being closed completely.
Between 12 midnight and 12 noon, only commuters moving into Lagos Island from the Mainland (Oworonsoki axis) would be allowed on the bridge, he said.
“At Adekunle, they will either exit (right) to Ebute Metta or turn left across an open space in the median and then turn right and drive against traffic up to Adeniji Adiele where they can either exit to the Island or move on to Ijora or Obalende, Ikoyi or Victoria Island.
“There will be signs at the exit points of Ikoyi, Obalende, Victoria Island, to advise motorists, who are barred from the bridge, on alternative routes to use during the period,” Ekunsumi said.
According to him, “a reverse movement will take place between 12.30pm and 1pm, when there will be a change, to midnight.
“The Lagos end of the bridge will be opened at this time, and the Mainland end of the bridge will be closed to traffic. There will also be signs to warn motorists on alternative routes to take during the period.”
Yesterday’s meeting was attended by the Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Transportation, Mr. Opeifa Kayode, Managing Director of Lagos Metropolitan Transport Authority (LAMATA), the Federal Road Safety Commission, and the police, among others.
The two-week extension for the commencement of work is to allow for proper sensitisation of Lagosians and of people from outside the state who would need to navigate their way round the anticipated traffic congestion the work would cause.
Also, during the two-week period, Borini Prono is expected to make other roads in Lagos motorable to ensure smooth flow of traffic when repairs eventually begins.
There would be adequate road signs at the project site approaches to direct vehicular movements, adequate lighting along the bridge between 6pm and 6am, and a new 200KVA generator to support FERMA’s 200KVA generator.
Kayode said the Lagos State Government supports the project and had set machinery in motion to ensure smooth flow of traffic, and advised the Ministry of Transportation to leave coordination of transportation to the state.
“We support the repairs of the damaged parts of the Third Mainland Bridge; and not just the Third Mainland Bridge but of all bridges in the country and in Lagos State. We also agree that in a situation of safety time is of essence and we cannot afford to delay beyond the required time. We are also saying that we are determined and we are ready to work with the contractor and the federal authorities and the Controller of Works in Lagos State to make sure that everything will be done during the period of maintenance to make sure that motorists and pedestrians do not suffer,” he said.
He, however, said it was not just Third Mainland Bridge that would be affected by the repair works, but the entire Lagos State, because the work would spill over to Anthony Village clover outlet that controls the entire Lagos traffic.
He said: It will spill over to Oshodi-Apapa road and that could ground the entire Lagos West. This same repairs could spill to the tollgate via Ibadan. It could close or block the entire Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way and the entire Ketu-Ojota down to Ikorodu Town.”
He said the Lagos State government sees the bridge repairs as an effort by the Federal Government to improve the standard of living of the people of Lagos “and we are very happy about that”, but that the repairs should not translate to hardship for the people, hence the request for a two-week extension.
The state government, he said, would join the Federal Government to ensure that the project succeeds and that it had started tinkering with various options for traffic control on the bridge and elsewhere during the period.
He said 100 to 150 buses would be deployed by LAMATA and several others by bus, in order to manage high capacity fleet.
“We have met about five ferry services that can ply the Ikorodu-Oworosoki route to Victoria Island-Obute Ero axis and we are getting some positive responses,” he said.
The government, he said, is looking into an alternate route.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=117162

You can't continue to compare between two evils and use that as a means of selection. That is just . . . . . . . . . Obasanjo's government squandered the huge potential of the country and Yaradua so far does not seem to have any idea whatsoever or any vision for that matter. Why do you feel we have to pick between any of them? Is this not the reason why the country keeps on recycling trash? Is that going to be the basis of selection next election? Because if it is for everyone then i am beginning to think the forsaken second coming of IBB isn't so improbable.

One of the sectors the administration reports to be also focusing on is the issue of collecting tax and i think that is a good idea. The city is simply too congested at the moment, a situation that can be accomodated by investing in building vertically as well as taxation which can become a means of generating revenue and hopefully even control population by serving as a deterence. But the problem remains Nigeria. If the rest of the states continue to allow their so called "leaders" just rob from them and steal and hence stifle development in those respective states and cities then of course people will continue to swarm the very few places that are being developed. We all say the main cities are Lagos Abuja and Port Harcourt but to be honest port harcourt is not seeing any action what so ever due to a history of bad governance (mainly odili) so the only major cities seeing development seem to be Lagos and Abuja and to a lesser extent calabar. This just won't do in a country with such a population. The development should be spread and before anyone brings up any rationing rubbish you can't blame the governor of a state for doing his job.

The federal government should give assistance if it can to enable the development of cities like Port Harcourt, Calabar, Kano, Ibadan so that not everybody would want to rush to lagos. The infrastructure is already being stretched and much more are coming. At the end of the day the problem remains bad governance on the path of a majority of states and hence the lagos population situation just serves as a lens into the Nigerian developmental situation. Other states should call their "leaders" to order and i see no reason why there can't be a wider spread in development in Nigeria.

Until that ridiculous "governor in waiting" title is removed by the judiciary i refuse to be even remotely impressed by any trite. This same cycle has continued for too long and really is a "give the dog a bone" scenario. When the cases that really matter that actually have a very good chance of defining and shaping the future of Nigeria, the judiciary bottles out and proves its cowardice. But for anything else they will do "the right thing". The judiciary doesn't seem to be worth it.

@Ibime, and your point exactly is?

@Kobojunkie you speak as if all the efforts are being expended on beautification which is not true. Most of the effort is not being expended on beautification it is just that beautification is the most obvious one at present. Have you gone through the projects actually being undertaken? Just out of interest. I named the biggest two i know which are energy city and eko atlantic city and there are more. So are those beautification projects? Can you imagine what is required to make such huge projects a sucess? So is it now fair to say that most of the effort is being expended on beautification projects?
With regards to free education, that is something that is if you believe reports being worked on. Considering the fact that this governor is addressing kssues he said he would address during election speeches i have no reason to be so quick to doubt him.

@Kobojunkie, fine we all agree poverty needs to be dealt with but on the other hand i believe with current actions such is being addressed with the job creation that i speak of and attracting foreign investments which is still going on, as well as projects which when copmpleted will create large scale employment which can then be radically felt. What i don't get is why you seem to speak as if all that has been going on in Lagos has been beatification and planting of trees which is simply not true, so why allude to such? Education is important yet some posts on this thread so it fit to lambast the closing of illegal schools that even lacked proper teachers. And meanwhile free education has been on the cards and is hopefully going to be a reality soon. Has this even been mentioned? It just seems that people are going out of their way to ignore everything to prove some sort of a point and sorry but i won't jump on that train.

P.S. nobody here has given me the impression of worshipping Fashola, rather it just seems as seeing a good thing and not being able to reconcile such initiallly blind and what seems as completely unobjective rubbishing to what is actually being done.

LOL, @Kobojunkie please who is that addressed to because speaking for myself i don't see Fashola as a messiah and i don't believe i have attacked you. I also don't see this misplaced priority that warrants rubbishing what is being done by the poster and such has been discussed. We don't have to always agree, that is fine. Have a nice day  

@Kobojunkie, when you say unemployment rate has not dropped are you actually taking into account that a lot of people are still immigrating to lagos? You keep on mentioning employment and i keep asking whether all these ventures are not creating employment and hence wealth. I hope you do realise that with regards to employment although the government can do a lot there is a limit to which this government can do unless you want Nigeria to run a society where the government is in control of every single thing. So if employment can be mainly effectively tackled by investment from the private sector then what can the government do to address this and improve it? If it is not to create an kenvironment which attracts this then i don't know what else. What about the micro finance initiatives that have been spearkeaded by the current government which aims to provide loans for lower scale businesses so that such ventures can be kick started hence making it a reality that people with lower incomes can actually also invest and hence have an opportunity at this "wealth creation"?

Of course a radical impact might not be felt immediately because projects like Lagos Energy city, and Eko atlantic city are still ongoing and not yet completed. I am not even in lagos or a lagosian and yet even i can see these things.

@Kobojunkie, so how do you know that people oriented programs are not been put in place? Is beautification the only thing going on in lagos? And the idea that if people have money they will go and build roads and plant trees is just quite amusing. I don't know if i really have to explain the importance of transportation and infrastructure, say you build a people oriented clinic for a community, how are the drugs going to be delivered, by camel? Job creation from where exactly, thing air? Aren't all the ventures mthat have been mentioned throughout the thread including those that haven't been mentioned creating jobs? Should the governor of the state now go and start building banks to hire people or should an environment that attracts business and hence provide job creation and hence wealth creation not be an important factor? Why must the self perpetuating cycle of spending money without actually putting anything solid on the ground be kseen as something good? MWho is going to work in the Energy city when it is done? Who is also going to work in the Eko atlantic city project if it is completed? Who is going to work in businesses and investment ventures that are going on in Lagos due to the international appeal and adevertising that the present governor has been spearheading? Is it not Lagosians?

@Kobojunkie please do enlighten, which points do you think are outstanding so that i can focus and see for myself because i fail to see these points?

igbsam:
I don't agree with the Poster or Sky Blue that Gov. Fashola has not done anything in this lagos. I consider him to be one of the best governor who took the bull by the horn to make sure he turns Lagos around and save Lagos from the congestion. If we fold our hands seeing Lagos congesting, it will soon become a pile of rubbish, but fashola decided to free Lagos and create more space for us to breathe. I knew people will hate him for what he's doing, but he's doing the right thing. Can you imagine, in Lagos we don't even have open parks for kids to play, everywhere is rubbish and congestion. He'll definitely step on some feets to create a way. So make una no vex. Fashola is doing something and it is glaring. Someone has to force beautification, we can't live like we are suffering and like we don't know what beauty is all about. If you can make your home beautiful, i think you should do the same to lagos state.

@igbsam, please read my posts carefully and don't misrepresent my thoughts. @Truequsts, how do you know the impacts are not being felt?

@Pepeye, LOL, i was wondering when someone would throw an insult. So i am now a crony because i fail to see this evil that Fashola is doing? Job creation? What on earth do you think all the construction is actually doing? Do jobs actually just appear from thing air? The BRT scheme does not only focus on buses but there is also a bus depot which has facilities for maintenance, etc which is capable of employing engineers, mechanics, security, etc as well as drivers obviously for the busus, so all these are not jobs being created? Again, are jobs going to appear from thing air? Is it now the job of government to build commercial structures or the job of private investors? And you think such would have preferred to build in an environment with bad infrastructure whereby their employees cannot even get to work in time because of crippling traffic due to bad infrastructure? What about lagos energy city? Did you even mention that? Do you know the potential such a venture has in job creation? So because roads are the obvious things mbeen addressed and it is visible, does that mean that security and other issues are not being tackled? Do you actually have information for this? Undergo wealth creation and beautificaltion will apear? So people with money will just suddenly feel the urge to go and start planting trees and flowers on the road side? Is beautification actually the only thing that is being tackled in lagos? If it isn't then why suggest that it is? And if this is the case then who is looking more like a supposed crony of sort? @folem, why not actually do some checks before you assume that the issue of drainage is not being addressed?

It is unfortunate that you would be so quick to label me a crony or apologist because i don't see this supposed evil that you see. All i see is work being done and wow, you are right, what a shame, how evil it is that an attempt to install order in the chaos that was lagos has been made. It really is the end of the world. LOL. I am not going to trade insults with you so have a nice day

@kemofash so you ignore all the roads that have been built and all the areas that have been rehabilitated and all the financial and commercial mschemes that have been undertaken but focus on a filling station that apparently as you state has flowers but no good road to go on to say that there is a problem with "misplaced priorities"? So is the planting of flowers and building and maintaining of roads now handled by thesame company? In a situation whereby not even all the roads are handled by thesame company, does that even seem like an objective or fair assesment? What are you actually expecting?

i guess some people just love putu putu and bad roads. Nothing wakes you up in the morning like the smell of fresh mud. My only qualms with this is that people are talking as if all that is been done is beautification which is simply not true. read the news.

The thing is that people are assuming that not lspending of coins is all down to "big manism". If everyone was made to understand that coins mare legal tender and that hence they cannot just be refused because the person receiving it doesn't feel like, then we are talking. Because i won't be surprised if not a lot of traders don't take it. But if not, it is a very useful tool for controlling inflation, as will be redomination and more use of cards as a means of payment.

@Pepeye, interesting take on the issues considering you failed to mention why a lot of private schools were closed or markets closed. The hundreds of schools that were closed were closed because they were unlicensed and illegal. It just goes to show the attitude in the country, anyone can just build a house and turn it into a school. What kind off education do you expect to be obtained from such? The markets that were closed, wheren't alternatives provided? In a city were previously from my understanding streets could overnight become markets due to the unruly behaviour of the citizenry and lack of discipline to correct such, you think such should have been allowed to continue? So i am guessing you have no problems with street markets and in thesame breath i am guessing you will now lambast such measures used to curb such activities that add to the traffic problem while also lambasting government for not tackling the traffic problem, right?

Can you not see that the beautification of the city is actually beneficial to the people? Can you not see that it creates a better and conducive environment for businesses to thrive? Or would you rather the under of the bridges that were once haven for agberos and hooligans that are now open and beautified be turned back to what is once was with a return of insecurity to such areas, right? I am not even in lagos and with the littlest of research this information is available, so why not be objective and examine both sides of what you lambast? You are yet to state any action that is actually destructive (to me anyway).

@Pepeye, why don't you enlighten us then, what "destrhuctions" is the present governor of Lagos full off? And please can be objective in your response?

Why don't you list some of the ventures that the Fashola administration has undertaken including the whole micro finance issue, the reclaiming of land from the sea to begin construction of the Energy city, the massive rehabilitation of roads and basically the whole city which could be seen as a means of providing a good environment for attracting foreign investors,  etc. If you still think it is nothing after actually knowing what has been done then that is up to your discretion.

@Ibime with the way you speak of MEND you seem to liken it to some government parastatal, unfortunately you still failed to answer my question.

Sky Blue:
@Ibime, Ijaw will not allow anyone else, so is Ijaw the only group in the Niger Delta? The premise you suggested was though open to abuse and could be seen as flawed, was initially interesting but as your posts progressed all that began to suffice was yet again tribalism. What message will the federal government be sending to everyone by negotiating with people who have been terrorising their own region? So the message would be what exactly, if you have a grouse to settle turn vigilante and you will get what you want? The irony of the situation is that if oil dissappears tomorrow no one will want to bring any business to the Niger Delta region because of the massive inseucrity that has been publicised around the whole world. Talk about bad marketing, imagine my shock when i saw Niger Delta issue making front page in "the independent" last week. What on earth would make MEND a trustworthy group to make such negotiations with? The word of MEND should just be taken? Personally i don't see any credibility in MEND, i would have if they worked to go after the former state governor in the name of Peter Odili and to seek redress for all he did. However, a group that was flirting with thesame government that robbed its people, stifled development, killed its people, etc, is the group that we should all be taking seriously? What was MEND doing when all this was happening? "Freedom fighters", oh please. I happen to see a better idea in @buchio7's suggestion which was an obvious route anyway if the government was serious. There is no need for another summit. Just do it already.

LOL, i just don't know for that house anymore. What really pains me is not necessarily the bill in itself, it is the fact that time is being spent on such hence robbing more important bills of attention. I don't know what to say anymore. The house is just a sham and a disgrace, full of people who are getting paid but do not seem to be working in the interest of the people. If whoever presented such a bill wanted to read it to make themselves sleep better at night in the presence of their own homes thereby leaving the house to focus on some thing better then that would be fine. Meanwhile FOI, still no show. LOL, Nigeria!!!

LOL, @ow11 please give the coins value first before you assume it is "big man" syndrome. So you want people to be carrying a bag of coins to by tom tom?

Nigerians sympathise with Bin Laden? Please don't generalise like that abeg. People in the North sympathise with Bin Laden, not the whole of Nigeria or all Nigerians.

@Ibime, Ijaw will not allow anyone else, so is Ijaw the only group in the Niger Delta? The premise you suggested was though open to abuse and could be seen as flawed, was initially interesting but as your posts progressed all that began to suffice was yet again tribalism. What message will the federal government be sending to everyone by negotiating with people who have been terrorising their own region? So the message would be what exactly, if you have a grouse to settle turn vigilante and you will get what you want? The irony of the situation is that if oil dissappears tomorrow no one will want to bring any business to the Niger Delta region because of the massive inseucrity that has been publicised around the whole world. Talk about bad marketing, imagine my shock when i saw Niger Delta issue making front page in "the independent" last week. What on earth would make MEND a trustworthy group to make such negotiations with? The word of MEND should just be taken? Personally i don't see any credibility in MEND, i would have if they worked to go after the former state governor in the name of Peter Odili and to seek redress for all he did. However, a group that was flirting with thesame government that robbed its people, stifled development, killed its people, etc, is the group that we should all be taking seriously? What was MEND doing when all this was happening? "Freedom fighters", oh please. I happen to see a better idea in @buchio7's suggestion which was an obvious route anyway if the government was serious. There is no need for another summit. Just do it already.

dgr8truth:
I begin to wonder why some Nigerians don't have faith that this will help the power sector of this country. There is nothing wrong in trying. It's true some many things have been banned in the past which offer no succour for the poor man except for the rich but that doesn't mean we should not keep on trying when the right people are there. let just this ban a try, it will help alto. I think it raise the our consciousness to the present realization that we can afford power in this country and something drastically should be done to put this devil behind us.

LOL, exactly how would this help cause i still fail to see this? Abeg, i don't have the energy for this so early in the morning.

Why on earth am i not surprised?? Confidence in judiciary? LOL, oh please. I always say i rather be naive than sceptical but to be honest with myself as far as things go, the judiciary has proven itself to be a cowardly bastion. Why are people rejoicing because a few governors were removed when there is still so much to answer? When the opportunity presented itself to redress a very big wrong the judiciary showed its through colours and turned tails and ran and i refer to the election tribunal with respects to Yaradua and the flimsy excuses given for the decisions made. What did i say after that happened? THE STATUS QUO REMAINS. If one wants to rejoice when such people decide to throw the masses a bone with some cheap propaganda then that is up to them. And yes whenever a PDP person is removed, i unashamedly breathe a huge sigh of relief because i continuosly find it difficult to see anything good coming out of a party of self phrophecised thieves and hooligans. A party without any mission that refuses to reform or exorcise itself of all the rubbish of the past. A party that could not even hold elections to choose their own chairman and you expect such to be democratic in the wider Nigerian sense?? When did 1 + 1 = 3? When will all the recycling of old rubbish stop? When IBB and OBJ and the rest of their ilk can still make headlines and their discourse treated as words of statesmen then how can all be well?

@McKren, that is one of the benefits out of quite a good number of such a venture. If it is feasible i see no reason why a redenomination exercise should not be carried out. As long as the exercise is well managed.

and this is why it would continue to defy common sense that one of the largest exporters of crude oil in the world does not have refineries and hence needs to import diesel and other value added products that are obtained from the crude oil it exports. What an ode to supidity. Some people need to be flogged

The most annoying part of the article was the mentioning of Yaradua's seven point agenda. What on earth is the seven point agenda? What targets does the agenda have and what policies are being put in place in order to make sure that these targets are approached? That is the most irritating thing in this administration. It is now over a year since Yaradua got in and there are strikes looming and what seems to be no movement and a maintenance of the status quo. With regards to the redenomination, if Yaradua does it at least it means he has done something, and yes i know how that sounds but nothing is more irritating than a visionless leader, it is like watching grass grow. Besides the redenomination could serve as a means of controlling inflation, especially important within the current global economic climate. I am just wondering how much it would cost and wether it can be properly managed, especially after the whole corruption in the Nigerian money press fiasco, etc

^^^ You do know that borishade and fani have been given bail right?

There you have it, our honourable members of the house. The modus operandi of the house epitomises unprofessionalism and to be honest this has gotten quite ridiculous. Can you imagine this trite? What on earth are members of the house been paid for? A lot of these people should be recalled, it would be interesting to find out the names of the people on this comitteee and the states they represent. Anyway, the report is done, i am going to be very interested to see what the outcome would be and the effect it would have on anything.

Nigeria: Controversy as Power Probe Panel Submits Report Today

Daily Trust (Abuja)

8 July 2008

Tashikalmah Hallah and Francis Okeke
Abuja

The House of Representatives Committee on Power and Steel that investigated the alleged $16bn expenditure in the power sector is billed to submit its report today amidst protest by some committee members.

The investigation was instituted following separate remarks by President Umaru Yar'adua and Speaker Dimeji Bankole that the Olusegun Obasanjo administration had committed billions of dollars into the sector without commensurate results.


Committee accepted written submission from from former President Olusegun Obasanjo about his role in managing the funds. His former Ministers of Power and Steel, all of whom are now governors as well as contractors testified before the panel which had hitherto visited all project sites as part of the efforts to unravel the mystery behind the huge expenditure. In almost all instances, the committee met empty sites whereas the contractors were said to have collected huge amount, some running into billions of naira.

The report is said to contain damming indictment of top echelon of the last administration according to a source who however did not give further details

Daily Trust learnt yesterday the committee will submit its report to the House today but members are said to be divided, with some accusing the chairman, Ndudi Godwin Elumelu of writing the report without any input from the them.

There are 27 Members in the committee and Daily Trust learnt that Elumelu at the beginning of the public hearing created a sub committees which is vested with the responsibility of writing the report after the public hearing, headed by Ajibola Muraina (PDP, Oyo state).

But a source told our correspondent the technical committee was not consulted when the report was written. Mr Muraina in a telephone interview last night claimed ignorance of the report. He told our correspondent, "I don't know anything about the submission of the report. If there is any report, then it's only the chairman that can tell you something about it."

Another source claimed that the "chairman of the Committee, Ndudi Godwin Elumelu (PDP, Delta) and few others sat and wrote the report in London without taking input from majority of the Members".

"It is a one man report. Majority of the Members of the committee don't know the content of the report and we're going to oppose the presentation tomorrow", the source said adding , "the report to be presented violated Order 14 rule 2 sub C of the House standing rule".

The Source explained, "On Sunday, June 29, to be precise I got a text message from the clerk of the committee inviting us to a meeting at the Chairman's house by 7:00pm. Immediately I got the text message I called him and told him that I will not attend the meeting because it was Sunday.

"Later, the Clerk sent another text message saying that the meeting has been rescheduled to Monday 30th June, by 3pm but was later rescheduled to 7pm at Rockview Hotel.

"At Rockview Hotel about eleven Members attended the meeting and the chairman told us that he had written the report and we're going to consider it. Immediately he brought forward a three volume report and said he was going to read out the recommendations for adoption. We asked for copies of the report but he told us that he could not reproduce copies because of the fear that it would be leaked to the press before it is submitted and that there was no money for the reproduction.

But we asked him where he got the money he used to produce the report? We asked him to go and source for money to reproduce the report and we agreed to meet on Wednesday 2 nd July at Sharaton Hotel and Towers". But the source explained their meeting at the Rockview Hotel was the first one since the committee concluded its public hearing in May.

A Member of the Committee who pleaded not to be mentioned "because it will jeopardise our plans", said most members of the committee were taken aback when they got another text message from the clerk of the committee inviting them to a meeting on Tuesday 1st July instead of the agreed date of July 2. "When I went to the meeting, which was held at the Sheraton Hotel, I met the chairman with few other members and he was reading the alleged committee report.


I asked the Clerk to the Committee my copy, and he told me that there was no report and that I should ask the chairman of the Committee. The Clerk told me that he doesn't know anything about the report", the source added. The source said that he walked out of the meeting in protest and was followed by many others.

The source added that in the report presented to them by the chairman he used some unparliamentarily language on some of the contractors citing that the report had called one of the NIPP contractors as 'dubious' and when the Members protest the language the chairman insisted that the word should not be changed.

Although, details of the report to be presented is sketchy as at press time, Patrick Obahiagbon told Daily Trust in a telephone chat that, " Yes, the report of the committee is ready, we have tried our best but I don't know when the report is going to be presented. On that only the chairman can answer you. You can call him", he added.