Senate To FG: Fix Enugu-Abia Bridge Destroyed During Civil War

The Senate has urged the federal government to include the reconstruction of Nkwuni-Awlaw Mmam Bridge in Oji-River LGA of Enugu State, in the 2027 Appropriation Bill under the Federal Ministry of Works and the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA).

The Senate also mandated its Committee on Works to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Works, Enugu and Abia State Governments to produce a final design for a permanent all-weather bridge even as it urged the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to carry out immediate security clearance of the Mmam Valley Fortress as an interim measure to reclaim farmlands from criminal elements.

The resolutions followed the adoption of a Motion on the Reconstruction of Nkwuni-Awlaw Mmam Bridge sponsored by the Senator representing Enugu West, Osita Ngwu, on the floor of the Senate on Thursday.

While presenting the Motion, Ngwu noted that the Nkwuni-Awlaw Mmam Bridge is a strategic interstate link that connects Inyi, Achi and Awlaw in Oji-River Local Government Area of Enugu State to Mbala, Amuda and Leru in Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.

He said the bridge provides a critical crossing over the Mmam River whose source is from Mmaku and which divides Awlaw into two, and was originally constructed during the colonial era.

The lawmaker told the Senate that the bridge was destroyed during the Nigerian Civil War, after which the Nigerian Army Engineers built a temporary Bailey bridge which was subsequently dismantled and taken away by the Army, leaving the Mmam River at Nkwuni without a bridge for over 50 years.

“At present, the people of Awlaw rely solely on bamboo rafts to cross to their farmlands across Mmam River, with attendant risk to their economic mainstay of subsistence farming, hunting and fishing activities.

“The absence of the bridge has forced vehicular movement to take extremely circuitous and costly routes,” he stated.

The Mmam River Valley farmlands housed more than eight temporary refugee camps during the Civil War, and these fertile lands have now been taken over by miscreants and hoodlums who use the ungoverned forest as a fortress, thereby threatening the security of South-East region.

“The continued absence of this bridge constrains free movement of persons, goods and services, isolates nodal markets of Nkwo, Eke, Orie and Afor, and discourages investment and industrial development, with attendant insecurity due to lack of motorable access.

“The construction of the Nkwuni-Awlaw Mmam Bridge is a strategic public infrastructure intervention that will eliminate transportation bottleneck, improve interstate connectivity, reduce poverty, improve evacuation of agricultural produce, facilitate access to markets and essential services, strengthen security response and stimulate economic activities,” Senator Ngwu argued.