Abuja-Okene Road Ready Soon – Minister

Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolememen, said  the second Gwagwalada bridge on the Abuja  Okene road would be opened to traffic soonest.

The minister made the statement while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice-President Namadi Sambo at the State  House, Abuja.

Onolememensaid that all completed sections of the on-going dual carriage road project would also be opened to traffic to ease the suffering of commuters during the yuletide season.

He said that travellers on the road during the Christmas and New Year season would breathe a sigh of relief and the usual groaning by commuters on the road would be a thing of the past.

“We want to assure Nigerians on what we will do. We are going to open the new bridge at Gwagwalada and all completed sections on that particular road will be opened to traffic.

“You are aware that quite a number of kilometres have been completed on that stretch but they are not being harnessed now.

“But, once in a while you see people driving there illegally. What we have done is to put up a committee now made up of members of staff of the Ministry of Works and Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and we are going to open both sides of the road.

“We just want to give them the next two weeks. Let us see how many more kilometres they are going to add to the road,” he said.

The minister said that the harsh experience of commuters along the road was not only as a result  of bad state of the road but the attitude of road users.

He said that the ministry would collaborate with FRSC and other related enforcement agencies to bring sanity on road usage during the yuletide.