By Okodili Ndidi, Abuja
The Federal Government has assured that the Loko-Oweto bridge linking Nasarawa and Benue states in the North Central zone of Nigeria will be opened for use soon.
The government said the bridge which was awarded in 2011 will boost economic activities and national integration.
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, at the weekend, inspected the progress of work on the bridge which is almost completed.
He described the bridge which crosses the Benue River as a major intervention by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in linking the various regions of the country together.
Fashola, who spoke with reporters after inspecting the 2.2kilometre Bridge, noted that the bridge was a strategic transportation route which connects the Northern part of the country to those coming from the Eastern part, adding that it would reduce travel time between the two regions.
According to the Minister, “this is a bridge which connects North and South of Nigeria, Oweto in Benue and Loko in Nasarawa, which links you to the Federal Capital Territory. So this is a major strategic transport route to connect this part of the country and all those coming from the East of Nigeria”.
He said, “Anyone familiar with the territory of Benue State would also know that from Oturkpo, going to Oturkpa and to Ogbulafor, one would link the East of Nigeria. So this is going to reduce the journey time between the Eastern Region of Nigeria and the Federal Capital, through Nasarawa and neighbouring states by many hours.
“The journey from the East to Abuja takes sometimes a whole day or more. Now you can make this connection in about six hours from the East of Nigeria to Abuja. So, this is a major impact on business, reducing cost, time and improving the ease of doing business.
“When I came here in 2016, only one side of the Bridge was completed; now, the entire bridge is completed. The only work that remains now is the connecting roads to link the Bridge to the towns”, the Minister said adding that the road from Oturkpo to Oweto had been completed, with only three and half kilometres remaining to link the bridge to the road on the Benue side.
He said although there was still some work to be done on the Loko side with about 74 kilometres of connecting road to complete, vehicular traffic has commenced on the road “because of the evident shortness of the link” adding that it has now become a major route for transporting yams and other agricultural produce from Benue State to Nasarawa and to other parts of the North.
Emphasising the objective of the Bridge intervention by the Buhari administration, Fashola declared, “This is the Bridge that crosses River Benue while the 2nd Niger Bridge is also going on. They are the two major Bridge interventions across the two largest rivers in Nigeria to improve national integration and further improve national coexistence in the country.
“The last time I visited here no vehicle was passing because the connection was not complete. But what has happened now is that even as the road remains uncompleted we see trucks moving through because the road is evidently shorter”, the Minister said adding that it is going to develop into a major economic route for Nigeria, especially for farm produce from farmers and other agricultural produce.
The Minister also noted that there are now street lights on the Bridge, explaining that when it was still combined with Power, the Ministry thought it wise to address the issue of electricity so that the host community would also benefit from the project which, according to him, is now a few months to completion.
“We are a few months away from its final completion”, the Minister told newsmen adding, “You can also see now that there is street light; there was no electricity when we came here in 2016; of course we were then a combined Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. So we also addressed the electricity solution so that this community can also benefit”.
Accompanying the Minister on the tour were the Minister of State, Engr. Abubakar Aliyu, Directors of the Ministry including the Director Highway, Construction and Rehabilitation,Engr. Oluyemi Oguntominiyi, his Bridges and Designs counterpart, Mr. Emmanuel Adeoye, the Federal Controller of Works Nasarawa State, Engr. Wasiu Taiwo and Special Advisers as well as journalists from the Electronic and Print Media.
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