From Audu Joe, Lokoja
Kogi state Government through the ministry of works and Housing has refuted an editorial comment made by the Daily Trust Newspaper on its Edition of 17/5/2021 on the alleged failed bridge at Ozuma in Okene LGA of the state.
In a press statement signed by the public Relations Officer of the Ministry of works and Housing , Abah Benjamin Eneojo and made available to Our Correspondent in Lokoja on Wednesday .
The statement noted that the ministry wish to maintain like it was done few days ago by the Kogi State Commissioner for Works and Housing, Engr. Abubakar Ohere, that there was No failed culvert, bridge at Ozuma in Okene Local LGA.
Ordinarily we would have allowed the Editorial to vanish naturally into the thin air because of its lack of substance and as one sponsored by an opposition Political party.
But for the caliber of the medium and to the discerning minds who maybe hoodwinked into believing the trashed Editorial, the need to again put the records straight becomes paramount.
How can a reputable medium like Daily Trust keep hyping the occurrence by calling a culvert a bridge just to seek for irrelevant attention?.
How can the paper agree with the PDP that a culvert was constructed in an ongoing project, within a week and as well commissioned for immediate use within the expected engineering curing period?.
It is unfortunate that the Daily Trust saw Government position on the matter that the project is an ongoing project and that it has not yet been handed over because work is in progress but would choose to be mischievous.
For the records, Kogi State under the Administration of Gov. Yahaya Bello is reputed to have constructed and completed Projects adjudged as meeting international best Engineering practices.
We are happy to also add that following its adherence to standards and ensuring integrity in the quality of Projects it has executed, Kogi State has won recognition at home and abroad for executing numerous Project that met Set standard.
We’re however surprised that for a medium that has earned itself respect over time to have allowed its editorial to be swayed lives much for concern.
For the umpteenth time, the alleged collapsed double cell culvert was due to the overzealous act of the company truck driver who violated the curing time of the project, that was just one week of construction.
We make bold to say that all necessary engineering standards were followed in the construction of the culvert and wish to place on record that the failed culvert was occasion by the human error of the driver and not Engineering failure as is insinuated.
This is because the State under the present administration has ensured full deployment of the best and qualified four Resident Engineers attached to the project, two at the working site and another two at the concrete mixing plant to ensure correct mix.
That the Construction Company promised to reconstruct the culvert having admitted that the error was caused by their driver who violated the rule vindicated the position of the Ministry.
For the Contracting firm to have matched words with action by immediately penalizing the driver for his action again buttresses the information made by the State Government.
Towards ensuring standard at the Working site the State Ministry of Works and Housing has two Engineers ensuring standard at the Working site. What happened which is now being hyped was purely an unintended accident from a truck driver who violated the “curing“ period.
For the record, we wish to state that we have main and distribution bars of 16mm and 12mm respectively as the reinforcement bars and a spacing of 150mm by 150mm with a mixing ratio of 1:2:4 an information that is verifiable and wish to state that the accident is not an engineering failure.
Without any ioata of exaggeration the company handling the culvert has executed several works across the state and began this particular job in July last year as such the issues of competence is not in doubt.
We wish to once again restate the present administration’s commitment to continue to execute quality projects and to ensure value for money and to state that we would not be distracted by the antics of the opposition to slow down the pace of development ongoing in the State.
It is disheartening to note that a reputable organization like the Daily Trust Newspaper for whom we have regards for over time would delve into writing an editorial without having the full knowledge of the issues and to be mislead into equating a culvert for a bridge.
The Kogi State Ministry of Works knowing that truth is constant, however wish to once again State that there was No failed culvert, bridge at Ozuma in Okene Local LGA.