Shola Oyeyipo in Abuja
The House of Representatives has directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, and other security agencies to remove heavy duty vehicles from bridges in Lagos State to save them from collapsing.
The directive followed the adoption of a motion by Hon Enitan Badru (Lagos, APC) under matters of urgent national importance during Wednesday plenary titled: “Need to urgently save Eko Bridge, long bridge in Fadeyi, Ojuelegba and National Stadium from imminent collapse due to parking by tankers, trailers and other articulated vehicles in Lagos State.
The lawmakers said the IGP should compel articulated vehicles drivers to use parks established for them and that whoever flouts the order should be brought to book.
They also charged the Ministry of Works, Power and Housing to carry out comprehensive inspection and evaluation of the bridges to ascertain their viability and potency.
In his motion, Badru had underscored that the Eko Bridge is one of the busiest bridges in Nigeria with more than a million vehicles plying it daily and that it links Lagos Mainland and Lagos Island; the commercial nerve centre of the country.
He said: “These bridges were not designed to carry such heavy trucks on daily basis, let alone parking thousands of them on the bridges. Our traffic laws forbid parking of any vehicle whatsoever on bridges, because it may lead to bridge collapse.
“All over the world, cases of bridge collapse since 1800 till date have been as a result of bridges carrying more weight over a long period of time as against the initial designed weight.”
