The collapsed bridge area before Ogwashi-uku
* Ogwashi-uku bridge collapses
* Don’t blame the govt for collapse of old bridge says Aniagwu
By Jon Egie
Barely 13 days to handover, the administration of Dr Ifeanyi Okowa which bears the toga of Road Master faces credibility challenge as one of the bridges on the Ughelli/Asaba multibillion naira road project has collapsed.
Outgoing Governor Ifeanyi Okowa had been christened Road Master due to orchestrated hype of his administration’s engagement in road construction across nooks and crannies of the State.
Since 2015, when he assumed office as Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa claimed to have committed huge resources to the construction of the Ughelli/Asaba Road and noticeably, the area nearing the collapsed bridge, just before Ogwashi-uku, has hosted a beehive of construction activities and with concomitant huge financial involvement.
The cause of the bridge collapse has not been officially revealed but sources claim the the effect of the 2022 flood which submerged many parts of the road left damages that the State Government failed to remedy.
Other sources alleged that the State Government engaged incompetent contractors who did substandard jobs that could not stand the test of time and blame the mishap on poor governance headed by Dr Ifeanyi Okowa.
Since yesterday when the bridge collapsed, road users have narrated their ordeal as consequence of bypassing the damaged part of the road and attempts at securing access to their destinations. Going to, or returning from Asaba has been a hell of experience since the bridge collapsed.
The alternative route to accessing both ends is via the Agbor Road but that too, is in a very deplorable state.
According to Iwe Okeoghene Blessing, a facebook user who commented on the development, “that road is even worse”.
A second alternative is the Nsukwa route which is described as a long distance journey with consequential increase in transport fare.
“I am just coming from Warri now, I got to Nsukwa Junction when we heard that the bridge has collapsed. Then we entered the Nsukwa Road straight to Agbor Junction before making it to Asaba. Honestly, it wasn’t a pleasant journey; lonely, dark and scary”. Marvel Phillipson Umukoro, another facebook user lamented.
Apart from possible hike in transport fare, the security of lives of the road users who daily ply the road for business is called to question.
The collapsed bridge has cut off people from two senatorial districts of Delta State: Delta South and Delta Central, from accessing the State headquarters, Asaba and Onitsha where bulk of their businesses transactions are done.
Obviously, prices of goods and commodities which are purchased and traded across the State would skyrocket as the bridge collapse would cause artificial scarcity, increase in demand and ultimately, hike in prices. This would impose further hardship on citizens and people of Delta State that the twilighting administration of Okowa promised prosperity for all.
Unreliable sources said remedial work on the collapsed bridge would take not less than two weeks to make the road accessible via Ogwashi-uku and the implication of this to business and traders for the period is better imagined than reasoned.
The despairing situation has negated the slogan of the Okowa administration which boasts of “finishing strong”, and dented it’s image as citizens now cast aspersion on the State Government for being indifferent to the wellbeing of Deltans.
Asked to react to the blames on the State Government for it’s negligence that allowed the bridge to collapse, Commissioner of Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu fumed and retorted, “why blaming the government for a bridge that is how many years old collapsing?” He did not say anymore and went mute on our reporter.
Only about a month ago, Tuesday, April 11, 2023; Charles Aniagwu while briefing journalists on some decisions reached at the State Executive Council (SEC), presided over by Outgoing Governor Ifeanyi Okowa at the Government House Asaba, had said the state government had given an ultimatum to the Ministry of Works to ensure that Sector C² of the Ughelli/Asaba Road dualization project was completed in the life of the Okowa administration.
Aniagwu said a lot of works had been done on the Section C² of the road. That section runs from Koka flyover and interchange to Ogwashi-uku Junction.
He said the remaining part of the project would be completed by the incoming administration, presumably, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori.
According to Aniagwu, the import of the order given by Outgoing Governor Okowa to the Ministry of Works was to enable the government have the privilege of inaugurating “that particular corridor before we exit on May 29”, and blamed the delay of the completion of the sector on the impact of the 2022 flood.
Ten months ago, Outgoing Governor Ifeanyi Okowa approved upward review of the project due to rising cost of building materials and inflationary tendencies from N12.47 billion to N13.56 billion.
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