The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, says the total rehabilitation of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State cost N43 billion while the bridge’s Closed Circuit Television Camera, CCTV,  Centre cost about N2.5 billion.

Umahi made this known on Monday in Lagos while addressing journalists, stressing that the scope of work covered total rehabilitation of 14km by 14 metres width by two carriageways.

“It also includes rebuilding and repainting of some concrete works and replacing expansion joints and putting solar lights.”

He said the establishment of the CCTV centre, was part of the Third Mainland Bridge rehabilitation contract.

“The total contract sum for rehabilitation of the bridge is N43 billion.

“The cost of the CCTV centre is not more than N2.5 billion,” he said.

He emphasised that the CCTV centre did not cost N40 billion as reported in some quarters.

Inaugurating the CCTV centre on Sunday, Umahi had said that the current administration met a terrible Third Mainland Bridge.

“When we came on board in 2023, we saw a very terrible Third Mainland Bridge, Carter Bridge and Iddo Bridge both on the pavement, surface, infrastructure above the water and even infrastructure below the water.

‎”The president, therefore, directed total re-evaluation and rehabilitation of the surfaces of the Third Mainland Bridge and changing the expansion joints,” he said.

According to the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Mr Olufemi Dare, the CCTV centre is the first of its kind in Nigeria.

He said: “We have a boat that has been bought for surveillance of the bridge. There are two Hilux vans, too.

“We have 240 solar panels in this environment.  The whole place is fully air-conditioned. We have 10 inverters inside the building.

‎”We have a transformer, a 300KVA transformer. We have a standby generating plant and monitoring screens.”

Two Rivers State lawmakers, including Minority Leader Sylvanus Nwankwo and Peter Abbey, have withdrawn their support for the impeachment proceedings against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Professor Ngozi Odu. They are urging their fellow legislators to seek a peaceful resolution to the crisis, citing appeals from respected stakeholders within and outside the state ¹.

The lawmakers emphasized that the decision was influenced by interventions from “our elders and leaders” who appealed for restraint and reconciliation. They called on the Assembly to halt the impeachment process and explore alternative means of resolving the crisis.

This development comes as the Rivers State Elders and Leaders Forum has also condemned the impeachment move, describing the reasons as “disturbingly weak, lacking substance, public interest justification, or constitutional weight”.

Nigeria football legend, Austin Jay-Jay Okocha has backed Arsenal to win the Premier League title under their manager Mikel Arteta this season.

Okocha believes Arteta’s side has the best squad in Europe this season.

He also hailed Arteta for doing a good job at the Gunners since he took charge of the club a few years ago.

“He [Arteta] has done a good job at Arsenal; we can see the progress since he took over. I know that the fans’ expectations are so high, they are never patient, but we can see that he is built his own team,” Okocha said on the Clutch 9 Podcast.

“He’s been challenging for the title, and I think it is the right time for him to win the Premier League.

“I think so. He’s got the best squad in the League, if not in Europe, so it’s theirs to lose.”

Arsenal are six points clear at the top of the Premier League table, ahead of Manchester City, who sit in second position.