From Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
The federal government has set plans to begin full repairs on the Namnai bridge in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State next week. This follows months of hardship caused by the bridge’s collapse.
Alhaji Uba Maigari, Minister of State for Regional Development, shared this on Thursday during a visit to the site. He called the situation dire and in urgent need of action.
He said engineers and experts have already assessed the bridge. They aim to find the best and fastest way to fix it. Maigari added that the government will work with Taraba State where needed to speed things up and ease the struggles of road users.
He said, “The North East Development Commission (NEDC) earlier sent engineers and quantity surveyors to assess the state of the bridge. This Namnai bridge is among 12 bridges that were listed for emergency intervention in the six states of the region. Nobody anticipated this natural disaster as we now have here.
“Also, when the State Governor visited the Ministry about six weeks ago, this bridge, Mayokam Bridge, Suntai Bridge, and Bantaji Bridges were part of the issues we discussed extensively, including the recently awarded Akwana Road. Let me assure you that as a responsible government, whatever we need to do and whatever partnership we need to have with the state government to expedite action will be done.
“This place needs immediate attention, and whatever has to be done to ensure that the road is motorable as soon as possible will be done. And so I can tell you that hold us responsible and accountable. In one week, we will find a solution to this problem. The most important thing is to get a solution and get it soon. I speak for the Federal Government.”
The Namnai bridge along the Jalingo-Wukari Federal Highway collapsed last rainy season. A temporary fix by locals washed away this week after heavy rain.