The 34-year-old Ovu River Bridge, which is located on a federal highway linking Enugu and Ebonyi states, has collapsed.
The bridge links Ebonyi State, through Uburu in Ohaozara Local Government Area, and Enugu State, through Agbani-Ugboka-Nara-Nkerefi in Nkanu East council.
Villagers at the foot of the bridge said that it was a truck carrying 900 bags of cement when the bridge caved in, as against 600 bags stipulated for heavy-duty vehicles. Read the story after the cut...
President of Nkerefi Town Union, Mr. Joseph Mkpume, said before the town could decide on the action to take, the driver of the truck connived with some people and evacuated the truck and cement.
“If we, the villagers, had been smarter than the driver, we would have held him, the truck and the goods, and ensure its firm comes to fix the bridge,” said Mkpume.
He said, “Our people are now stranded and no one is going to enjoy this Christmas because our movement has automatically been restricted."
“Those of them who must go to Ebonyi State for an urgent matter would now have to go out of our community, then pass by Enugu town, through Abakaliki in Ebonyi State, before getting to their destination.”
“This will take them about four times the original journey. It then means that they will spend half a day travelling.”
The Nkerefi Town Union president stated that the matter was made worse because the federal road on which the bridge is built had been in a terrible state for more than a decade.
“We have had to ply this federal highway filled with pot holes for more than a decade. Now, the only bridge on the road that links the two states – Enugu and Ebonyi – has caved in,” Mkpume added.
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