The Federal Government on Wednesday gave all traders and other illegal occupants under over 20 bridges in Lagos final ultimatum to vacate before March 31 or face forceful eviction.
The Director, Highways, Bridges and Design, Mr Oluropo Oyetade, gave the ultimatum during an emergency meeting between Federal Ministry of Works delegation and Lagos State Government officials to review the Apongbon Bridge fire on Wednesday.
Fire fighters battled frantically to put out the inferno under the Apongbon Bridge on Wednesday morning.
Oyetade announced the ultimatum from the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, to illegal occupants of the bridges in Lagos to vacate before March 31 or face forceful eviction and sanctions.
“I was about to enter a meeting concerning the Third Mainland Bridge before I was hurriedly ordered by the Honourable Minister to come here to give his directive and mandate that he has given to me, to announce that the area (Apongbon Bridge fire) should be cordoned off, which we have done.
“And that the inspection of the defects caused by this inferno shall be taken immediately the place cools down.
”But the most important that I must deliver here is that, all the occupants under our bridges particularly in Lagos, we are giving them seven days to pack away.
“Seven days counting from today. By 31st of March, the task force will swing into action and we will impound all recalcitrant elements that we find under the bridges.
“They shall be forcefully evicted. Not only that, they will be made to pay
for any items we have to remove.
“Let me repeat and make myself clear, all occupants under our bridges, we have over 20 bridges in Lagos, should move before 31st of March,” he said.
He warned that a task force would embark on enforcement of recovery of the Right of Way (RoW) on all the 20 bridges in Lagos as from March 31.
Oyetade said that a contract was already on for the rehabilitation of the Apongbon Bridge, which repairs had not been concluded only for the same bridge to be gutted by fire.
He described the damage to Apongbon Bridge as an avoidable incident.
According to him, the government cannot continue to build and allow irresponsible attitude of Nigerians to damage such infrastructure built with huge resources.
The director said that all Federal Controllers of Works had been directed to clear encroachers on all bridges nationwide, while lamenting similar fire incidences to bridges in Ajaokuta and Kano State recently.
He also condemned the activities of illegal sand dredgers that removed the soil under the Third Mainland Bridge, to jeopardise the safety of the infrastructure.
Oyetade said that three companies had been arrested in connection with this development and would be prosecuted.
The director said he was to hold a meeting with the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) in Abuja to discuss issues of regulation of the sand dredgers, but had to run down to Lagos to attend to the Apongbon Bridge fire.
He told journalists that the Apongbon fire was massive and that traffic architecture was being drawn up between his engineers and the Lagos State officials on best possible diversion options.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr Frederick Oladeinde, said his ministry would issue a release on diversion alternatives to the public after consultations by assessing and exploring the best options with regard to diversion alternatives.
Oladeinde said that the Apongbon Bridge fire would negatively impact traffic, adding that a combined team of traffic regulatory agencies were on ground to manage a traffic architecture to be drawn to reduce the hardship on road users.
Earlier, the Lagos State Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr Omotayo Bamgbose-Martins, Special Adviser to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Works and Infrastructure, Mrs Aramide Adeyoye, shared strategies to be adopted in collaboration with other agencies.
The Commissioners of the Lagos State Ministries of Environment; Physical Planning and Urban Development, as well as Heads of various Lagos safety regulatory and emergency management agencies, also took turns to advise the public and announce safety, health and traffic measures.
The Lagos Sector Commander of the Federal Roads Safety (FRSC), Mr Olusegun Ogungbemide, also announced collaborative traffic management plans.
Apogbon Market inferno: LASG closes Eko Bridge, announces alternative routes
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government (LASG) has shut down Eko Bridge while diverting traffic to other routes for the safety of motorists following the inferno which engulfed the Apongbon axis of the bridge in the early hours of Wednesday.
The Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, who announced the development in a statement on Wednesday in Lagos also listed out the alternative routes that motorists should ply.
Oladeinde said that an integrity assessment would be carried out on the bridge to ascertain the level of damage caused by the fire incidence to it and for its adequate rehabilitation.
He advised motorists heading toward Apongbon from Surulere and its environs to use the Ijora/Apapa route or tge Leventis/UBA Roundabout to connect the Marina and head on to their desired destinations.
Alternatively, he also advised that motorists could pass through Ebute Ero to link Inner Marina and the Third Mainland Bridge to continue their journeys.
Oladeinde said that the State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) officials were already on ground along the alternative routes to minimise inconveniences.
The Commissioner empathised with owners of shops razed down during the inferno, assuring them and the residents of Lagos State that the government was fully committed to ensuring safety of the commuting public within the metropolis.
Apongbon fire: PDP commiserates with victims
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State has commiserated with owners of businesses razed by fire under the Apongbon section of the Eko Bridge in Lagos early hour of Wednesday.
Fire gutted shops under the Apongbon section of the Eko bridge, the intensity of which badly affected the bridge and truncated movement along that corridor.
Mr Hakeem Amode, the Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, in a statement in Lagos, described the fire as avoidable and one incident too many.
Amode, who recalled that the Lagos State Government had reported that 113 persons and property worth over N24.69 billion were lost to fire incidents in the state in 2021, urged Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu to stem the tide.
According to him, the state government must take proactive actions such as installing fire detectors and fire breakers in all markets in Lagos.
Amode said: “The Lagos PDP wants the APC led government to take the business of governance seriously by judiciously using tax payers money to train and equip men of the fire service in taking proactive measures to forestall future occurrence.
“We call on the Lagos State Ministry of Works to quickly move to work by conducting integrity test on Eko bridge, adjoining bridges and property around Apongbon bridge so as to ascertain the level of damage caused by the fire incident.”
He said that the party was standing with people of the state over the attendant gridlock occasioned by the incident.
The Lagos State Government has shut Eko Bridge in Lagos Island indefinitely over inferno pending when integrity and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is conducted on the bridge to determine the level of public safety.
The government also issued a seven-day quit notice to owners and occupants of makeshift and containerised shops under bridges across the state or face forceful eviction.
