Babatunde Fashola, the minister of works and housing, has said that the sit-at-home order by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has immense contribution to the delay in the completion of the second Niger Bridge.
The minister made the disclosure when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television on Wednesday, December 21.
According to Fashola:
“These dates keep shifting and people must remember that on the eastern side, our contractors have not been able to work on Mondays for almost two years and that has affected the completion date.”
The former governor of Lagos state added that the construction workers work on Saturdays but a 52-day was lost to the IPOB’s sit-at-home order, which cannot be easily made up for in the construction works.
He highlighted other challenges such as relocating the transmission lines that connect the east and west across the Niger River contributed to the number of days lost.
Fashola disclosed that all these contributed to the factors that affected the timely completion of the bridges within the stipulated time.
The minister then spoke on completing the 4km stretch of the road and said the construction is taking place in a marchland which required a great need to dredge and sand fill, and such is a process that cannot be rushed.
