Kogi govt, opposition bicker over cause of collapsed Ozuma bridge

A newly constructed bridge that cost millions of Naira has collapsed in Kogi State a week after it was completed by the Governor Yahaya Bello administration.

The cause of the collapse has however become a subject of controversy of late, with the main opposition party – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – being in strong disagreement with the state government.

According to a statement issued by the Director, Media and Communication of the state chapter of the PDP, Comrade Dayo Onibiyo, the Ozuma bridge in Okengwe, in the Okene senatorial district, was allegedly constructed with substandard materials that gulped several millions of Naira but collapsed a week after commissioning.

The PDP described the project as another wasteful scheme and a conduit pipe that had exposed road users’ lives to unnecessary dangers.

“We, therefore, advise Yahaya Bello to borrow a leaf from the PDP in the state on how it successfully completed the notorious Meme bridge and others without exposing the lives of good people to any danger,” the PDP wrote.

The party also called on the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) to come to the aid of the people of Kogi to investigate the failed bridge to “avoid other impending dangers to human lives arising from the construction of substandard projects and to ensure that standards are complied with.”

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“We are afraid that the ongoing flyover under construction at Ganaja junction, Lokoja, is a heavy risk if a mere bridge can collapse under a week of its assumed completion by the same government.”

But reacting to the failed bridge, the state’s Commissioner for Works and Housing, Engineer Abubakar Ohiere, dismissed the allegations raised by the PDP in the state, saying it was far from the truth.

Ohiere explained that the collapsed bridge was due to the overzealous act of the company’s truck driver who violated the curing period of the project.

Ohiere stressed that all necessary standards were observed, saying the collapse was not as a result of engineering failure.

Isaac Dachen

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