EDITORIAL :
THE AGE-LONG NEGLECT OF COCONUT BRIDGE APAPA: PROOF OF GOVERNMENT’s INSENSITIVITY
Over two decades now, Coconut Bridge Apapa has been utterly neglected as carrying out repairs on it has not been considered by successive administrations.
It is indeed amazing that a very important infrastructure like the coconut Bridge which has remained a death trap overtime due to the activities of unscrupulous elements who shut down every valve of conscience and vandalized the pedestrian protective rails leaving it completely bare .
The death trap of a bridge is not only dangerous for port users that trek to Cocoanut Bus stop to board buses going to Mile 2 to continue their journey home at close of business, but is an operation point for miscreants who dispossess port users, passers by as well as residents of their belongings at any time, especially at night.
It is when one has made up his mind to die that he can engage any of the miscreants in an argument or fisticuff when confronted to surrender his belonging at such a dangerous spot. The person could be pushed off the bridge, into the deep tributary of the Atlantic ocean.
We have a serious situation starring us in the face for over two decades now and the Landlord, which is the Nigerian Ports Authority, has turned blind eyes to this wired and extremely scary situation all these years. The Agency has failed to call the attention of the Federal Ministry of Works to the bridge.
Unless one listens to victims of Coconut Bridge daredevil activities; the person will continue to doubt if such mindless operations take place at that spot.
It amazes me that successive administrations of NPA have not considered the replacement of the protective rails all these years as its Corporate Social Responsibility -CSR or draw government’s attention to it since it is the statutory duty of the Federal government to carry out repairs of federal roads.
Even as the Apapa port road rehabilitation has since been concluded and equipment evacuated, no repairs were carried out on Coconut Bridge, at least rail replacement would have been commended by many and deeply appreciated by port users.
Since public officers can do anything and go scot-free, it won’t be shocking to hear that past and present administrations have been appropriating the funds earmarked for the repair of Coconut Bridge to themselves. We are in the era of “steal 20 billion, launder 15 billion, squander 4.9billon, return 100 million and your sin is forgiven.” That is what we have been witnessing and the public officers have been so engrossed in the act since it is the easiest means of becoming stupendously rich. Budget padding for white elephant projects and other administrative shenanigans are all aimed at self enrichment and not for the betterment of the nation.
Furthermore, the bad state of Coconut Bridge is compounded by the stationing of container laden trucks on it by truck drivers. The unusual vibration of the bridge is something that needs urgent attention.
Victims of armed robbery and rape have at one time or the other narrated their ordeals on Coconut Bridge. I did a write up on it years back which l captioned “Coconut Bridge: Where death is readily available”.
It is high time the authority resolved to carry out repairs of this very important infrastructure, the game of wit should end now.
I will not end this write up without apportioning a bit of the blame to Western Marine Command that is in position to call the attention of the NPA to the bad state of the bridge very adjacent to the Command but does nothing about it.
Part of the blame also goes to PTML for not calling the attention of NPA to the bridge and never considered taking up the replacement of the rails as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Besides, the major offenders remain the hoodlums who mindlessly vandalize the bridge leaving it in a very dangerous state. These criminals have no reason whatsoever to embark on such heinous act. And when the protective rails are eventually replaced, serious security measure must be put in place to forestall such unpatriotic act. Offenders should be decisively dealth with, in my opinion they should be committed to life imprisonment as that is the only punishment commensurate to the offence.
It is said that “the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crises, maintain neutrality”.
Mcanthony Onuoha is a maritime journalist and publisher of The Prestige Blended Magazine Online and Print
