Minister of Labour, Ngige’s hometown bridge cuts at last

*Ahead of Ngige’s father’s Jan 22 burial 

Pictures show vehicles owners who have turned the remnant of the once beautiful bridge into a car washing platform and excavation of sand. Pity No vehicle can drive across anymore

The bridge across Ezigbo River on the strategic Alor-Abatete road, linking both the Idemili North and South Local Government Areas of Anambra state has cut into two at last.

The ugly situation which was a disaster foretold, had remained like that for about eight months, without any foreseeable remedy coming.

Incidentally, this was coming on the heels of final arrangements and preparations for the burial of the late patriarch of the Ngige dynasty, Chief Pius Ngige, father of the Minister of Labour and Productivity Senator Chris Nwabueze Ngige [right] next month.

The Abatete-Alor link road which connects the rest part of Anambra Central senatorial district with the South and North zones has remained one of the shortest and easiest routes round about the state. 

But now that the connecting bridge is cut having been washed away by the River tide which had overflowed and submerged it for many months as a result of silting of the River, it’s now back to the old days. 

To access Alor, Nnobi, Nnewi, Awka, Ogidi and beyond, one has to explore other more challenging alternatives. This was the view of a motorist- Chief Emeka Ugoguba, a regular user of the road.

According to him, the road was constructed in the hey days of Anambra state, under the administration of Ngige as governor of the state.

Chief Ugoguba raised more fears of citizens when he pointed out that a similar fate awaits the Abatete-Oraukwu Bridge, Nimo-Neni Bridge and the Ideani/Uke-Alor/Nnobi bridges as the Idemili River which traversed all through the length and breath of the two councils has been seriously silted thereby pushing the tide up to and above the level of the bridges.

At the Anambra state Ministry of Works who designed, built and supervised both the connecting roads  and bridges, one of the engineers blamed poor design and supervision for the latest disaster. 

The engineer who do not want his name in print noted that “all of them would be re-designed and new bridges constructed”.

He acknowledged that the ministry has been very aware of the disaster. He expressed deep worries over the hardship it would present to holiday makers at this Yuletide.

Sadly no caution or warning road signs to alert first time or forgetful road users on the disaster ahead was found anywhere on the stretch.

Again, the culvert at Okacha junction Neni has remained a death trap to all road users in the past one year. 

The broken concrete slabs used to cover the culvert across the very busy road could not be replaced for about 8 months and when they replaced them, they broke again as soon as they were placed. 

Other roads and streets all over the key cities of the state have been left in repaired even when some have been patched. 

It has clearly become the trademark of the state’s Ministry of Works to give out jobs without supervising the execution of such jobs. It won’t be surprise that Gov Obiano was prevented from knowing the true situation.

From Chuks Collins, Awka

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