Nigerian Minister of Works, Sen. (Engr) David Umahi has frowned at continued tampering of the underwater piers and pile caps of Lagos bridges by people despite warnings.
Umahi disclosed this during inspection of the substructure and other underwater elements of Third Mainland bridge, Eko bridge, Carter bridge and Independence bridge in Lagos over the weekend.
The inspection was to assess structural integrity of some of the structures as well as appraise the progress of work on the bridge elements which the Minister affirmed the commendation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the maintenance.
On tampering of the underwater piers and pile caps of the bridges, Umahi made particular reference to the most recent case of a ship capsized at Eko bridge waterway, which hit and destroyed the underwater pier and pile cap, thereby causing a big threat to the structure of the bridge.
He also made mention of unlawful dredging going on in the waterways of 3rd Mainland bridge where the dredger destroyed the pile cap of the bridge.
Underscoring the importance of the underwater elements to the substructure of a bridge, the Minister explained, “The pile caps are like the legs to human beings. 
“What the pile cap and the pies are to the bridges are what the legs are to human beings. So imagine a vehicle hitting one of your legs.”
He narrated, “And so I immediately directed divers to be deployed, and I went to the smaller boat to monitor the level of damages below the water, occasioned by this dredger that hit the pile. And I was very shocked.
“A whole one pile was totally removed. And what is holding that particular section is only the rods. So, some of the rods are removed. So it’s like a whole leg of somebody is cut off.” Umahi appealed to the Governor of Lagos State to consider the need to shut down the waterways between the Carter bridge and Eko bridge because of the risk occasioned by the impact of the capsized to underwater elements.
According to him, “Let me appeal to the Governor of Lagos State to please enforce that the waterways between Carter Bridge and the Eko Bridge be closed because the dredger that hit the pile caps and the piles tumbled and they got sunk.
“So what is safe is for that section of the waterways to be closed down. And so I’m alerting all the authorities of the Navy, the Lagos State government, they’ve always been very proactive. This section of the waterway needs to be closed down immediately.”
The Minister emphasized the danger of dredging sand along the bridge areas. “The dredging of sand along seas and rivers is very dangerous because all the piles in Lagos were executed through skin friction, which means that it is the sand that is holding the piles and holding the bridge. “At the Third Mainland Bridge, we have installed a camera to observe what is going on top and also under the bridge. And so we’re going to be looking at that for the bridges in Lagos even though it’s quite a lot of cost”, he said.
The Minsiter expressed satisfaction so far with the quality and speed of underwater works done on these bridges and also commended the contractors for the milestone completion recorded by them.
“We have inspected the 3rd Mainland Bridge and Carter Bridge handled by Julius Berger to know what is happening below the deck, and we are satisfied with the work they’re doing.
“I can say that the work on the 3rd Mainland Bridge is about 50 percent completed, and that of Carter Bridge is about 70 percent completed”.
