Posted on: 09:44 Thu, 26 Nov 2015



The Senate on Wednesday invited the
Minister of Power, Works and Housing,
Mr. Babatunde Fashola, over recurring
cases of bridges’ collapse in parts of the
country.

The upper chamber specifically
wanted Fashola to brief its
committee on Works on plans for
reconstruction of all Bailey bridges
In the country.

This followed the adoption of a
motion on “Recurring collapse of
Bailey bridges nationwide”
sponsored by Senator Gilbert Nnaji
(Enugu East).

Following the adoption of the
motion, the Senate mandated its
Committee on Works to undertake
an inventory of all Bailey bridges
nationwide with particular attention
to their years of construction and
current status.

It called on the Federal Roads
Maintenance Authority (FERMA) to
urgently reconstruct the collapsed
Bailey bridges across Ebenyi River at
Ikem in Isi-Uzo local government
area of Enugu State as well as other
collapsed Bailey bridges across the
country.

Nnaji in his lead debate noted that
he is aware that Bailey bridges,
developed and used during the
Second World War, were built in
Nigeria during the pre-independent
era up to few years after the
Nigerian civil war, to provide
temporary crossing for foot and
vehicle.

He noted that many of the bridges,
made from pre-fabricated metal
truss and installed in various parts
of the country either cave in or
collapsed due to age and pressure,
thereby causing untold hardship to
commuters, motorists and other road
users.