Fix Enugu-Abia Bridge Destroyed During Civil War

The Senate has urged the federal authorities to incorporate the reconstruction of Nkwuni-Awlaw Mmam Bridge in Oji-River LGA of Enugu State, within the 2027 Appropriation Bill underneath the Federal Ministry of Works and the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA).

The Senate additionally mandated its Committee on Works to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Works, Enugu and Abia State Governments to provide a closing design for a everlasting all-weather bridge even because it urged the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to hold out instant safety clearance of the Mmam Valley Fortress as an interim measure to reclaim farmlands from legal components.

The resolutions adopted the adoption of a Motion on the Reconstruction of Nkwuni-Awlaw Mmam Bridge sponsored by the Senator representing Enugu West, Osita Ngwu, on the ground of the Senate on Thursday.

While presenting the Motion, Ngwu famous that the Nkwuni-Awlaw Mmam Bridge is a strategic interstate hyperlink that connects Inyi, Achi and Awlaw in Oji-River Local Government Area of Enugu State to Mbala, Amuda and Leru in Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.

He mentioned the bridge offers a crucial crossing over the Mmam River whose supply is from Mmaku and which divides Awlaw into two, and was initially constructed throughout the colonial period.

The lawmaker informed the Senate that the bridge was destroyed throughout the Nigerian Civil War, after which the Nigerian Army Engineers constructed a brief Bailey bridge which was subsequently dismantled and brought away by the Army, leaving the Mmam River at Nkwuni and not using a bridge for over 50 years.

“At current, the individuals of Awlaw rely solely on bamboo rafts to cross to their farmlands throughout Mmam River, with attendant threat to their financial mainstay of subsistence farming, searching and fishing actions.

“The absence of the bridge has forced vehicular movement to take extremely circuitous and costly routes,” he acknowledged.

The Mmam River Valley farmlands housed greater than eight non permanent refugee camps throughout the Civil War, and these fertile lands have now been taken over by miscreants and hoodlums who use the ungoverned forest as a fortress, thereby threatening the safety of South-East area.

“The continued absence of this bridge constrains free motion of individuals, items and companies, isolates nodal markets of Nkwo, Eke, Orie and Afor, and discourages funding and industrial growth, with attendant insecurity as a consequence of lack of motorable entry.

“The construction of the Nkwuni-Awlaw Mmam Bridge is a strategic public infrastructure intervention that will eliminate transportation bottleneck, improve interstate connectivity, reduce poverty, improve evacuation of agricultural produce, facilitate access to markets and essential services, strengthen security response and stimulate economic activities,” Senator Ngwu argued.