Tinubu’s bridge excites Benue government, communities

By Ayorinde Oluokun

Though yet to be completed, the government and people of Benue are already expressing excitement over the potentials of Buruku-Wukari link bridge as a key driver for stimulation of the state’s economy. On completion the bridge will connect the North-Central and North-East parts of the country through Buruku community in Benue State and Wukari in Taraba State. “This is quite a monumental project. We term it as a ‘golden gift’ to the people of Benue State by our President,” Benue deputy governor, Sam Ode told journalists led by presidential media team on Renewed Hope Ambassadors enabled media tour of federal and state government at the site of the project last Thursday.

Ode told journalists that people of Benue State had long desired the bridge to stop loss of lives from people using boats to cross the river. “This river has consumed lives and property. There’ve been a lot of boats, ships accidents across this river over the decades,” Ode said. The Deputy governor also expressed excitement at the pace of construction as well as the quality of work on the project: “Setraco, one of the leading companies in this country is constructing this bridge. You can see substantial work has gone on here, and the people of Benue are indeed very happy with Mr. President for the accelerated manner in which this project is going.”

Aside putting an end to needless loss of lives, the Deputy Governor added that the bridge will open new economic frontier for the people of Buruku, Logo, Katsina-Ala and Ukum local government areas of the state who are mostly farmers when completed. He noted that the yam headquarters of Benue is Ukum Local Government while the general area where yams and most of the crops come from is the Sankera Federal Constituency made up of three local governments.

“This is the yam headquarters of Benue East. It is from here that trucks come from all over Nigeria to carry yams and other food crops. Before now, they had to go all the way through Katsina-Ala before heading to the South-East, South-West and South-South. With this bridge, there is direct access to the yam headquarters of Benue. It is going to become a major economic hub in this sub-region,” he said.

The Deputy Governor added that Hyacinth Alia, is very passionate to see the completion of the project. In demonstration of that passion, he told journalists that the Governor had invited the director of civil engineering of the project to brief the state executive council on the status of the construction and the expected obligations of the state government some days before the media tour of the project. He added that Benue state government has also taken up the responsibility of facilitating right of way and payment of compensation to those who lost their lands to the project: “ And we are satisfied that on her own part, the Benue State government has satisfied all those requirements regarding the right of way and compensations and all of that.”

Mukaila Danlandi, the Federal Controller of Works in Benue State told journalists that the substantial progress has been recorded in the construction of the 854-metre dual carriage bridge. He said construction of the bridge which is being funded under the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund began in 2023. Danladi said funding has not been a problem while also confirming that Governor Alia took up the challenge of paying compensation for crops and structures that had to give way for the construction of the bridge: “We had some challenges when the project actually commenced because we have to compensate for some of the structure and crops here. But we thank God, His Excellency, Reverend Father Dr. Hyacinth Alia came into the rescue, and we are able to compensate for all those structures and economic trees within the road corridor.”

He added that all the substructures, pile caps for the bridge have been completed, the piers have all been erected while the precast beams are already in the yard. “We are about to launch them, but because of the rainy season and the high-water level, we couldn’t continue with some of the major work in the middle of the river.” He said the project is expected to be completed by December 2027.

The chairman of Buruku Local Government Area, Raymond Zege Aondoakura also said the bridge would stop loss of lives through fatal accidents on the river. “Everyone is very happy because we have lost lives in this river behind us. In three years, we have lost almost 200 lives here. This bridge is a relief not only to Buruku Local Government, but also to communities in neighbouring states,” he said while commending President Tinubu and Governor Alia for ensuring realisation of the dream of a bridge over the river.

Speaking in the same vein, Jonathan Ta Modi, the chairman of Ukum Local Government said the bridge is of prime importance to people in communities across the council area: “Buruku Local Government is the biggest yam-producing local government in Africa. We have the biggest yam market. This road and bridge will connect our local government and provide the shortest route for distributing our goods. It is going to help our communities and neighbouring Taraba State.”

Onanuga speaking to journalists

A resident of the Buruku community working for the construction company said the people in the town are already benefitting from the construction of the bridge. According to him, more than 50 youths from the community are working for the construction company as carpenter, electrical technician, iron benders, security men among others. “People use boat to cross here. Sometimes we have boats sinking. We’ve lost money and much of life here. But with the bridge, we’ll not experience that anymore,” he said.

Bayo Onanuga who led the presidential media team on the tour said the bridge and other ongoing federal projects in Benue are evidence that the funds the Tinubu’s administration is borrowing are being put to use for the benefits of Nigerians. He noted that the federal controller of works had confirmed that there has not been any problem with funding of the project as it is being financed by the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund: “This bridge, in particular, is the fifth bridge that the federal government is building in Benue State. The government has been accused of so many things, of borrowing money, of doing that. But you can see where the money is going to. To develop infrastructure, to link people who have been forgotten before, to make sure that at least commerce flows freely,” Onanuga said.

On the benefits of the bridge, the special adviser to the president on media and publicity said: “Farmers can get their products straight to the market, and so on. You can shorten the travel time between one community and the other, especially between the rural areas and the capital. You can see that this one where we are now, the one in Buruku is going to affect three states, Taraba, Adamawa, and to link all of them together to Benue, and of course, the rest to Nigerians. So, it’s going to be beneficial to everybody economically.”