The bridge which is located at Sabongida village is collapsing for the third time on the 86 kilometres busy highway.
The Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, has come under fire over his administration’s failure to repair the repeatedly collapsing Minna-Bida road bridge.
The bridge which is located at Sabongida village is collapsing for the third time on the 86 kilometres busy highway.
Recall that the bridge had fallen in the first week of September of this year, but was fixed by the Niger State Road Maintenance Agency (NIGROMA), and then fell apart again five days later.
According to Daily Post, the development has prompted travellers from Minna heading for Bida to use a bush path as a detour after connecting Mange Vunla to Lemu, the Gbako Local Government Area's administrative centre.
They alleged that after doing repairs on the same bridge twice, the state administration is utilising the rehabilitation work as a conduit to drain money.
Mohammed Ndabida, one of the commercial drivers using the route, described the regular bridge collapses as frightening.
He said “We expect the state government to do the needful on some portions on the road by reconstructing the bridges. It is a yearly phenomenon whenever the rain sets in, making it a conduit pipe.”
Josephine Ayo and Musa Suleiman, who were passengers travelling to Bida, noted that they had been subjected to unnecessary difficulties due to a heavy downpour in the area.
They explained that travellers on both commercial and private vehicles going to Bida were left with no choice but to take an alternative road from Lemu the headquarters of Gbako LG to Bida, just as those heading to Minna presently follow Wushishi-Zungeru road to Minna.
“The journey is now twice the number of kilometres we are supposed to cover from Minna to Bida. We are begging the state government to come to our aid,” they pleaded.
As of the time this report was filed, attempts to contact the state's commissioner for works and infrastructure development, Mamma Lafiya, was unsuccessful.