Fashola says the completion date projection failed due to COVID-19, EndSARS protests, and IPOB activities.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has identified the #EndSARS protests and the activities of the Indigenous of Biafra in the South-east as reasons the 2nd Niger Bridge is yet to be completed.
The construction of the bridge now named after President Muhammadu Buhari was expected to be completed in February 2022.
But according to Fashola, the completion date projection failed due to some factors which include the COVID-19 lockdown, #EndSARS protests, and the sit-at-home orders by IPOB members.
The minister disclosed this on Thursday, March 24, 2022, while addressing State House correspondents during a special ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will be delivered this year, subject to how we navigate the pricing issues. Second Niger Bridge also this year, while the main carriageway of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway is scheduled for completion by the second quarter of 2023 before the President leaves office at the end of his tenure”. he said.
“On the Second Niger Bridge, one of the challenges we are facing on the Anambra side of the project is the stay-at-home order on Mondays and every day we don’t work, there is time lost.
“On the second Niger Bridge, we are going to shut down the power supply from one of the power plants for maintenance. On Abuja-Kano road, we have to relocate transmission lines; we have to move people who have set up markets along the roads and so on.
“So, these are some of the challenges we are facing and then there are compensation issues and we are working with Governors, who control land in their states to help us overcome these local issues.”
Fashola said the construction of the bridge was already at 91 percent completion stage, adding that the project and the Lagos Ibadan expressway would be completed before the end of 2022.
