Third Mainland Bridge in 1985 |
“If
I remember very well, in 1982 or 83, yeah, I saw a programme, “The Squandering of Riches”, on an
American television channel. They were reporting on some of the white elephant
projects that African governments embarked upon. I watched as the lead
presenter climbed the abandoned 3rd Mainland Bridge and as he
talked, he gave it as an example of how African governments embarked on
projects and never completed them.
And
when he got to the point where the construction stopped then, he said nobody
could tell where the construction was leading [to] at that time and that he was
of the opinion that it could well lead to oblivion.
General Ibrahim Babangida |
That
struck me and informed my desire to change that narrative. I saw it an insult,
a foreigner talking about my country in that manner. I also saw it as something
I needed to do something about if given the opportunity.
That
was what happened. And fortunately, as God would have it, in 1985, I was
appointed the military president. I remember the thing very well. It is in my
head. I told myself I was going to ensure the completion of the project. So, I
called Raji Rasaki who was the military governor of Lagos State at the time. We
sat down and had a good chat about it. As usual, he said, “Well, this is a
state government. We probably don’t have the money to complete it.” And I said,
“No, let’s put our resources together and see what we can do.”
Col Raji Rasaki |
There
was Julius Berger. There were PGH and Bank Anthony, an Italian contractor and
one or two others, and then Lagos State government itself. So, I brought them
all together and said, look, this is my intention, is it doable? They all
looked at me and said yes, it was doable provided I was going to provide the
money. And I said money won’t be a problem, because the state government,
Federal Government and PGH were going to provide the money. So, the engineers
and everybody said yes, it could be done. It happened on my birthday, when we
had that meeting.
So,
I said, “I will have to commission this bridge on any of my birthday.” That was
a challenge I gave the engineers and they took it very seriously. So, Colonel
Raji Rasaki and I put our heads together and, sure, the money was made
available so that when the work started, there wouldn’t be any delay due to
lack of funds.
Third Mainland Bridge |
We
got the money ready and the engineers were mobilized to site. That was how the
completion of the 3rd Mainland Bridge restarted. By God’s grace,
they fulfilled their promise and on my next birthday, I commissioned that
bridge.
It
was the longest bridge in Africa at that time and mostly built by Africans. I
did not spend up to N1 billion on that bridge. Today, you have to spend about
N1 trillion to build that bridge. You see the bridge still standing strong. It
will continue to stand strong because the government is doing well with it;
they are maintaining it.”
Culled
from Matters of Heritage
I have really missed history lessons on here sir. God bless the good work sir.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, our former Head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida really have long range vision for this country. But the issue of June 12 beclouded his immensely contributions to our great country (Nigeria). We need to forgive him. But there is one thing we need to realise, he (General lbrahim Babangida)really did well for MKO Abiola. If he (MKO Abiola) became Nigeria President as that time, history may have not forgive him. The lesson l learnt there is this; if General Mohammed Buhari did not become Nigeria President in 2015, Nigerians will said our messiah had being denied to become President of Nigeria. But today every body have learnt their lesson of putting thrust on humans. Only God we should continue to put our thrust. Hmmm
ReplyDeleteHonestly, our former Head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida really have long range vision for this country. But the issue of June 12 beclouded his immensely contributions to our great country (Nigeria). We need to forgive him. But there is one thing we need to realise, he (General lbrahim Babangida)really did well for MKO Abiola. If he (MKO Abiola) became Nigeria President as that time, history may have not forgive him. The lesson l learnt there is this; if General Mohammed Buhari did not become Nigeria President in 2015, Nigerians will said our messiah had being denied to become President of Nigeria. But today every body have learnt their lesson of putting thrust on humans. Only God we should continue to put our thrust. Hmmm
ReplyDeleteUhmmmmmm. There are a lot lessons here. IBB June 12?Obasanjo 3rd term agenda? Others with their problems. History must be told. Kudos to Onigegewura.
ReplyDeleteUhmmmmmm. There are a lot lessons here. IBB June 12?Obasanjo 3rd term agenda? Others with their problems. History must be told. Kudos to Onigegewura.
ReplyDeleteI personally Love IBB no matter what people say is a man of different characters as human he can have his flaws however he is a force to be reckoned with
ReplyDelete