By Grace Alegba/Adeyemi Adeleye
Lagos, March 23, 2022
The Federal Government on Wednesday gave all traders and other illegal occupants under over 20 bridges in Lagos a final ultimatum to vacate before March 31 or face forceful eviction.
The Director, Highways, Bridges and Design, Mr Oluropo Oyetade, gave the ultimatum during an emergency meeting between Federal Ministry of Works delegation and Lagos State Government officials to review the Apongbon Bridge fire on Wednesday.
This is as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State commiserated with owners of businesses razed by the fire that razed shops and other property under the Apongbon section of the Eko Bridge in Lagos in the early early hours of Wednesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that fire fighters battled frantically to put out the inferno on Wednesday morning.
Oyetade announced the 7 days ultimatum from the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola.
“I was about to enter a meeting concerning the Third Mainland Bridge before I was hurriedly ordered by the Honourable Minister to come here to give his directive and mandate that he has given to me, to announce that the area (Apongbon Bridge) should be cordoned off, which we have done.
“And that the inspection of the defects caused by this inferno shall be undertaken immediately the place cools down.
”But the most important (message) that I must deliver here is that, all the occupants under our bridges particularly in Lagos, we are giving them seven days to pack away.
“Seven days counting from today. By 31st of March, the task force will swing into action and we will impound all recalcitrant elements that we find under the bridges.
“They shall be forcefully evicted. Not only that, they will be made to pay for any items we have to remove.
“Let me repeat and make myself clear, all occupants under our bridges, we have over 20 bridges in Lagos, should move before 31st of March,” he said.
He warned that a task force would embark on enforcement of recovery of the Right of Way (RoW) on all the 20 bridges in Lagos as from March 31.
Oyetade said that a contract was already on for the rehabilitation of the Apongbon Bridge, which repairs had not been concluded only for the same bridge to be gutted by fire.
He described the damage to Apongbon Bridge as an avoidable incident.
Mr. Hakeem Amode, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Lagos state, in a statement, described the fire as avoidable and one incident too many.
Amode, who recalled that the Lagos State Government had reported that 113 persons and property worth over N24.69 billion were lost to fire incidents in the state in 2021, urged Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu to stem the tide.
According to him, the state government must take proactive actions such as installing fire detectors and fire breakers in all markets in Lagos.
Amode said: “The Lagos PDP wants the APC led government to take the business of governance seriously by judiciously using tax payers money to train and equip men of the fire service in taking proactive measures to forestall future occurrence.
“We call on the Lagos State Ministry of Works to quickly move to work by conducting integrity test on Eko bridge, adjoining bridges and property around Apongbon bridge so as to ascertain the level of damage caused by the fire incident.”
He said that the party was standing with the people of the state over the attendant gridlock occasioned by the incident.
NAN reports that the Lagos State Government has shut Eko Bridge in Lagos Island indefinitely over the inferno pending when integrity and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) are conducted on the bridge.
