Senate President David Mark has described the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos as a national major disaster waiting to happen and should not be allowed to collapse.
“The bridge is an important edifice and its collapse will be a major catastrophe, as many lives may be lost,” he said.
This statement comes just before the Senate will today debate a motion on the imminent collapse of the bridge.
The 11.8km bridge which connects the Lagos Mainland to the Lagos Island was commissioned by former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida in 1990.
The bridge was closed down by the Federal Ministry of Works for four months for repairs and was reopened in October. The repairs reportedly gulped N1.5 billion, including repairs at eight expansion joints of both sides of the bridge.
At the plenary session on Wednesday, Senator Gbenga Ashafa from Lagos East raised a point of order to bring to the attention of the Senate the state of the bridge, adding that he would want an urgent remedial measures to be taken.
He said the consultant who carried out the post-assessment of the repair works of the bridge discovered that the repair work on its foundation was not properly done.
Ashafa said the consultant discovered that the bridge “could collapse today, tomorrow, next year, five or 10 years and, therefore, there is the urgent need to discuss the imminent collapse.”