Stalled Ibi Bridge Project: Will I Ever Get to Cross the Bridge in My Lifetime?

 

Gaddafi Ibrahim Tanko 

 

When the Federal Executive Council approved the contract for the Ibi Bridge expected to be emblazoned across the River Benue in the twilight of President Muhammadu Buhari's first term in 2018 it brought a ray of hope to a people who have, for far too long, been neglected. Since the return of democracy in 1999, we in Ibi have not enjoyed any significant federal attention through life-changing interventions especially in the area of critical infrastructure.

 

The ₦57 billion Ibi Bridge project was, without a doubt, a lifeline. It was expected to become a major piece of national infrastructure connecting Taraba State in the North-East (where Ibi is located) with Plateau State in the North-Central.

 

When work began a few months after the contract was awarded to Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) a firm known for delivering key projects like the Loko-Oweto Bridge the economic fortunes of our once sleepy and overlooked town began to shift. Workers came in from across the country. Our youths found employment. Local businesses thrived. For the first time in decades, there was real hope—hope that we were finally becoming part of the Nigerian development story.

 

But then, just as quickly as it began, the work stopped.

 

And with that stoppage, the hopes and aspirations of our people were dimmed. For a community that has long endured repeated boat mishaps on the River Benue mishaps that have claimed countless lives and destroyed millions in property the bridge was never just about concrete and steel. It was a pathway out of danger, poverty, and exclusion.

 

Since the suspension of work, there has been no clear explanation from the federal authorities. Instead, we've witnessed a deliberate change in priorities especially under the Tinubu administration. Rather than completing the Ibi Bridge, a new bridge was conceptualized in Buruku, Benue State, and work there is progressing rapidly.

 

So we must ask: Are we lesser Nigerians in Ibi?

 

More painfully: What has our loyalty to the All Progressives Congress (APC) brought us, when we have consistently voted for the party, election after election?

 

It is especially heartbreaking that none of our elected representatives whether in the Senate, House of Representatives, or even the State Assembly has raised a motion in plenary to draw attention to the abandoned project. This conspiracy of silence is not only troubling; it exposes the deep flaws in our leadership selection process.

 

What metrics do we even use in choosing those who speak for us? Many of our leaders are members of the APC, yet they remain silent while one of the most important opportunities for our region slips away.

 

The Ibi Bridge Project is the biggest elephant in the room right now. And like Oliver Twist, we are not just asking, we are demanding. We call on our elected representatives at the National Assembly, and members of the Federal Executive Council, to look inward and begin to attract meaningful initiatives and programmes to our land.

 

Our teeming youths are hungry for opportunity foreign and local scholarships, vocational training, job creation, and infrastructure that connects us to the rest of the country.

 

We are not asking for too much.

 

We are only asking to be treated as equal citizens of this country.

 

 

Gaddafi is a public policy aficionado. He can be reached at Ibrahimgaddafi0@gmail.com