Thieves have vandalized the median walkway at the Onitsha, Anambra State section of the newly inaugurated Second Niger Bridge. at the process of doing so, they have stolen the metal plate that was placed in the middle of the walkway as well as the expansion joint.

Oluwaseyi Martins, the resident engineer in charge of the project, stated that the vandalism of the median walkway took place late on Wednesday, July 5 of last week.

Martins is concerned that such a significant legacy project that serves the people could be vandalized so soon after it opened to the public, despite the fact that the crime does not represent any harm to the bridge or its use.

It has only recently begun to take place, and if we do not increase the level of protection on the bridge, additional harm may be done to other components of the bridge. It is a fresh pattern that has presented itself to us all over the nation, and not only on the Second Niger Bridge specifically.

“We have written to all of the security agencies, including the military, to inform them that this is a significant national asset that should be secured, and we have requested that they beam their surveillance and security activities on the bridge.

“I am confident that by this time, they have the situation under control to prevent any further vandalism of the significant national asset,” you may say.

Anambra government visits the Oba erosion site and requests intervention from the Federal Government

Asaba, the capital of Delta State, is located in the South-South region of the country, while Onitsha, a commercial center, is located in the Southeast region. On May 23, this year, the multi-billion naira bridge that spans across the River Niger and connects the two cities was inaugurated by former President Muhammadu Buhari through Zoom. After that, it was made available to the whole public.

The Second Niger Bridge, which serves as a bypass for the traffic and commercial operations in Onitsha, had an earlier partial opening on December 15 of the previous year for a period of one month in order to ease traffic during the holiday season.

More details soon…