2 weeks Ago By Segun Adewole
The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has said the installation of closed-circuit television (CCTV), popularly known as surveillance cameras, on the Third Mainland Bridge is to prevent suicide on the bridge. Speaking when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, the minister also stated that the cameras will check the activities of those excavating sand under the bridge. He said, “We have put CCTVs down under the deck so that anybody who is excavating sand within the 10-kilometre radius will be spotted.
We have built, beside the bank of the sea on Third Mainland Bridge, an examination house where we have the police, navy, army and local security. “They will all be there watching the CCTV so that anybody who is trying to take his life on the third mainland bridge, they will spot the person. With this CCTV, there will be no more excavation of sand under the deck around the pies.
” Umahi also spoke about the closure of the Independence Bridge in Lagos, which led to gridlock, with many motorists stranded for hours on routes around the area. He said the bridge, which has since been reopened, was closed for repairs after a structural failure involving the approach slab of the bridge was noticed. The minister said the slab failed when the sand fill beneath it leaked, compromising its integrity and posing a serious risk to commuters.
Further speaking, Umahi said a 30-kilometre section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will be made available for President Bola Tinubu to inaugurate by May 25, 2025. “The beginning of section one, as at today, about 15 kilometres by two carriageways on average has been achieved, and at the end of the project at Eleko where section one stopped, about 5 kilometres has been achieved,” he stated. “So, the idea is by the 25th of May, 30 Kilometres continuously will be made available for Mr President to commission from the beginning of section one down to kilometre 0 to 20.
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