National Wire About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories
Olabode Adaramola
Lagos socialite and former National Coordinator of the defunct Presidental Committee on Police Equipment Fund, Chief Kenny Martins, has raised the alarm over the deplorable condition of the 3rd Mainland Bridge in the state , describing it as “Murderous Neglect”.
Martins made the observation over the weekend in a Press staement signed by him, and made available to the newsmen in Lagos on Sunday.
He added that both the federal and Lagos state governments should urgently do something about the problems which had in recent times caused avoidable and painful loss of lives, fractured limbs and destruction of material resources estimated at several millions of naira.
In his release, titled: “Wake Up Call” on both the federal and Lagos state governments, Martins noted that few weeks ago, his family members lost one of his cousins, whom he said prior to his untimely death, was an Air Vice Marshal in the Nigerian Air Force (names withheld) on the same 3rd Mainland Bridge, Lagos in an inexplicable manner
He also described the bridge as now a death trap to motorists and commuters alike. stressing that “exactly 10pm a week ago, I encountered a similar accident. I can now understand the circumstances he(the deceased AVM) might have gone through”.
Recalling his own close shave on the bridge in the fateful evening, Martins said, “travelling in the middle lane with 2 cars on both sides, I came upon 2 craters of potholes simultaneously.
“I had nowhere to turn at under 100kph and too late and dangerous to apply sharp brakes because of vehicles following behind. I ran into them and lost a tyre. I have seen and avoided half a dozen of such in the earlier minutes” , he cried out.
He however asked rhetorically that the 3rd Mainland Bridge, Lagos, as one of Africa’s longest bridges at +11km. long, must it also hold the record for fatalities and deaths .
He also pointed out that what if his own car tyres were not run flats or the car was not a low sports, saying, that ” but for God another victim would have been thrown into the lagoon”.
The Lagos socialite thereby said that In the spirit of the season, “can we all run a powerful campaign, for those charged with the maintenance under former Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola and the incumbent Governor, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, to please leave the cosy sides of their Xmas trees and fix these traps” ?
Kenny Martins however argued that if the appropriate authorities did not urgently carry out necessary repairs on the said dilapidated and udeplorable portions on the 3rd Mainland Bridge in Lagos, that no one was sure of who the next victim would be on the bridge, hence his decision to speak up on the issue as a patriotic citizen .
