Mrs. Boade Akinola, Director of Press, disclosed this in a statement on in Abuja on Sunday.
According to the statement, Fashola made the remark on the bridge during an inspection tour to the project with his counterparts from ministries of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations Minister, Sen. George Akume.
“It provides a shorter route cutting off about four to five hours.
“For someone coming from Cross River to Abuja by road, ordinarily will have to go from Calabar to Ikom, Ogoja to Katsina-Ala and then join Markudi, come through Lafia then Keffi and Akwanga into Abuja; but now you have a bifurcation through Oweto to Nasarawa.
“Apart from the Loko-Oweto bridge project, works are going on at the 2nd Niger Bridge, the Ikom Bridge and 37 other bridges across Nigeria are being constructed, repaired or rehabilitated by the Ministry,” he said.
Fashola said some of the bridges being constructed, rehabilitated, and repaired were: the 3rd Mainland Bridge in Lagos, the Murtala Mohammed Bridge in Koton Karfi, and the Isaac Boro Bridge in Port Harcourt.
Others were Chanchangi Bridge in Niger state, linking Niger and Ilorin and the Tambuwara Bridge in Kano.
“This government in spite of limited resources and having to borrow is simply doing almost the near impossible in terms of infrastructure.
“Mr. President continues to give his support and commitment to infrastructure. His understanding of the purpose of infrastructure for growth and development is very clear,” Fashola said.
Speaking earlier the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed was enthusiastic that with the completion of the bridge, the South-South and the South-East would be connected to the North and this would save five hours of travel time on the road.
He said Benue state would automatically be the food storage of the Federation by drawing people from every part of the nation, while generating economic growth, on one hand, it would advance social cohesion on the other hand.
Mohammed said that the Federal Government was making judicious use of the loans.
According to him, while these loans have a life span of 20-50 years, the roads we are constructing will have a 50-60years lifespan and outlive many of us.
Also speaking Sen.George Akume urged the people to maintain peace and order among the various communities where the project is sited owing to the fact that the project was a huge one intending to serve not just Benue and Nasarawa states but also the larger Nigerian population.
The Emir of Loko, Alhaji Abubakar Sabo, Sarikin Loko, and Second-Class Chief of Agatu Chief Godwin Onah expressed appreciation to the Federal Government over the construction of the Loko- Oweto Bridge, which had impacted on their lives positively.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Loko- Oweto Bridge Project is 97.37 percent completed.
