HURIWA sees injustice, as bridge built with Abacha and Ibori loots
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has criticised the federal government over its plan to toll the 1.6-kilometre Second Niger Bridge linking Delta and Anambra.
HURIWA National Coordinator Emmanuel Onwubiko said the project was funded with taxpayers’ money in form of stolen money recovered from former Head of State Sani Abacha and former Delta Governor James Ibori.
The group said tolling the bridge, the only bridge with a toll gate in Nigeria, is an injustice to both the South and the entire country as the bridge is for use by Southerners and Northerners alike.
HURIWA argued $332.4 million Abacha loot recovered from the United States and the £4.2 million Ibori loot returned to Nigeria by the United Kingdom are the stolen commonwealth of all Nigerians which should be used on essential infrastructure for the betterment of the entire country.
“Therefore, it is unacceptable that the Second Niger Bridge will be tolled upon its completion after a decade-long stalemate on the project,” HURIWA said in a statement, according to reporting by Daily Post.
Works and Housing Works Minister Babatunde Fashola announced on Channels Television last Wednesday the temporarily opened Second Niger Bridge will be tolled in the same model as the Lekki toll gate in Lagos.
The bridge is open to traffic from 15 December 2022 to 15 January 2023 to ease movement during the Yuletide holiday before final delivery in May 2023.
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No other bridge is tolled
But Onwubiko insisted “the bombshell released by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola that the Second Niger Bridge will be tolled is totally unacceptable and a betrayal by the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“It is on record that the Buhari regime pledged to use the $332.4 million recovered Abacha loot and the £4.2m returned Ibori loot to fund the construction of the Second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kano Expressways to benefit the citizens of each of these important regions.
“The UK and the US especially ensured that the Nigerian Government commit its agreement to use the two recovered loots for infrastructure development as administered by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority.
“HURIWA, therefore, finds it traitorous and preposterous that the Buhari regime will turn around to plan the tolling of the Second Niger Bridge.
“This is totally unacceptable. Nigerians should for once enjoy their stolen taxes and resources returned in the forms of Abacha and Ibori loots.
“HURIWA urges all Nigerians to resist the planned tolling of the Second Niger Bridge which is the only federally built bridge that would be tolled.”