Senator Manu, Reps Member Plead With Tinubu Over Collapsed Bridge
By Victor Gai, Jalingo
The Senator representing Taraba Central, Senator Haruna Manu and Member, representing Bali/Gassol Federal Constituency in the Naional Assembly, Honourable Ja’afaru Yakubu Chiroma, have both called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently come to the rescue of the people of the state with the reconstruction of the collapsed bridge at Namnai, along Jalingo-Wukari Federal Highway.
Collapsed Namnai bridge along Jalingo -; Wukari road
The bridge which collapsed in August last year, links the the north east region with the southern part of the country and also serves as a major artery for economic and social activities in the region.
Motorists have all this while been left stranded and had to resort to the use of canoes and ferries across the river while heavy duty vehicles had to use alternative routes causing more hardship and affecting their businesses.
Our correspondent also reports that since the collapse of the bridge five months ago, there has not been any form of intervention either from the state or federal government.
Both lawmakers expressed fear that if the bridge was not fixed before the rainy season, the region would be cut off.
They further pleaded that government should intervene the same way it did for the collapsed bridges along Yola-Gombe and Gombe-Bauchi roads.
Manu said: “as you know, this bridge links the eastern part of the country to all the states in the north east. If the bridge is not reconstructed before the next rainy season, it will ground economic activities in all the states in the north east.
He disclosed that there were ongoing efforts aimed at ensuring that work on the Namnai bridge commences before the rainy season.
According to him, apart from raising the matter on the floor of the Senate under matters of urgent importance, he had personally visited the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to discuss the need for the speedy reconstruction of the bridge.
On his part, the member representing Bali/Gassol federal constituency in the National Assembly, Hon. Ja’faru Yakubu Chiroma, said he had equally raised the issue of the collapsed bridge on the floor of the House of Representatives under matters of urgent public importance and begged the federal government to urgently reconstruct the bridge.
Chiroma said: “apart from all these efforts, I also visited the North East Development Commission (NEDC) and requested for their intervention.They came to the site and took the assessment of the damage and with the promise to come to our rescue”.
He stressed the need for urgent action towards the reconstruction of the bridge which he said was strategic to the people of north east and the entire northern Nigeria.
