The main Igbo socio-political group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has expressed its discontent with the Federal Government’s intention to impose a toll on the recently inaugurated 2nd Niger Bridge.
the punch reported that the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said that the temporarily open bridge would be tolled for maintenance purposes.
However, Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s publicity secretary Alex Ogbonnia said saturday punch that such a move would affect the performance of the regime of the president, Major General Mohammadu Buhari (ret.).
In addition, he criticized the bridge’s toll proposal, saying that public funds were used to provide the long-awaited service to the people.
“The toll of the bridge will be an ‘impoverishment’. Are there any other roads in Nigeria where there is a toll barrier? So this is weird. It’s like imposing unnecessary taxes on people.
“You see today, wherever you go, you will come across one checkpoint or another. Checkpoints are like toll gates, they charge people money.
“These corrupt military or security personnel collect money from the public and now the government is installing another toll barrier, all these things are a punishment for the population.
“There is no other toll barrier in any other part of Nigeria except this one that they are proposing. They will not be able to reconcile their raison d’être of a toll gate. It’s not right,” she said.
An economics professor, Nwaru Ndubuisi, said it would be unfair for the federal government to install a toll barrier on the bridge. Talking with saturday punchhe said such a move would lead to untold hardship for the people living on the other side of the bridge.
