The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has reopened the Independence Bridge located on Victoria Island, Lagos.
The Minister had earlier directed the immediate reopening of the bridge following the massive traffic gridlock that rocked the Ikoyi area of Lagos. In a video seen online, the Minister drove first on the bridge before it was officially reopened to Lagosians.
Speaking to journalists in Lagos on Friday, April 4 Umahi confirmed that construction work on the bridge will officially begin in three weeks.
Speaking to journalists after the reopening of the bridge, the Works Minister said;
“We must be very, very grateful and thankful to God Almighty for his message. We worked out through the night and we’ve restored this. If you ask me how did it happen, I would say it’s by God’s wisdom and grace. You know, how it happened is all God’s. But the integrity of the bridge, the integrity of the road we have repaired is 100%. So what we are doing later is for long-term effect. But there is no problem about this repair.”
He then said that a more permanent structure would be put in place after three weeks, explaining;
“We are going to be, you know, doing a more permanent work after three weeks, you know, because we don’t know the integrity of the pipes carrying the apartment. So that we relieve the apartment of any load at all. But the load will rather be a pin load which we are going to introduce, so it will continue to press it down.
So we’ll forever be grateful to God. And we thank Mr. President who, you know, is very, very sensitive to the plight of the people. You know, whenever it pains Nigerians, the President is there to relieve, you know, such pain.
The President saw the hardship occasioned on Nigerians by reason of the sudden closure of this Independence Bridge for emergency rehabilitation,” Umahi stated.
Lagos residents were left stranded for hours on Wednesday through to the early hours of Thursday, April 3, following the sudden closure of the Independence Bridge in the Falomo area for maintenance and rehabilitation works.
Watch a video showing the moment he reopened the bridge below…
