Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has issued an apology to residents who endured hours-long gridlock due to the ongoing repair work at the Independence Bridge.
The closure of the bridge, which started on Wednesday evening, left thousands of commuters stranded in heavy traffic, prompting outrage on social media as videos and photos of affected residents went viral.
Following the backlash, the Minister of Works, David Umahi, ordered the reopening of the bridge to ease the traffic congestion.
However, while inspecting the repair work on Thursday, Sanwo-Olu expressed regret over the situation, acknowledging that better communication with the public could have helped reduce the inconvenience.
He said, “First, I think what is appropriate is really to first tender apologies to all our citizens and to all Lagosians for the very, very difficult, erroneous practices that we experienced in the last 24 hours in the city and within the island of Lagos.
“I think this apology is important so that we can take full responsibility as a government, both at the national and sub-national levels, for just taking our people through an unfortunate incident. It was all well intended, it was all for good causes, and it was all for us to avert a future disaster that was waiting to happen.”
Sanwo-Olu, who acknowledged the difficulties commuters faced, however, said the closure was for the greater good of residents of the nation’s commercial heartbeat.
The governor stated that the repair work was to avert a disaster.
“It was all for a good cause, it is all to avert future disaster waiting to happen. You know how life is — there is never a best time for you to do all you want to do, there will always be challenges even if you think it is the best time,” Sanwo-Olu said.
“This contract has been signed over three years ago; our duty is to preserve the integrity of the Independence Bridge — which is like one of the oldest bridges in the country.”
The governor asked residents of the state to plan accordingly, given the repair work.
“If you don’t have business to do in Victoria Island in the next two to three weeks, conduct your business via social media, telephone, Zoom meetings, online meetings, let’s plan,” the governor said. “If you don’t need to come and visit somebody here, you don’t have to come.”
The governor, who was accompanied by his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat and other government officials, was received by officials of Buildwell Construction, who are handling the project.
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