Umahi Slams Federal Road Vandalism Across Nigeria

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has raised the alarm over the escalating vandalism of federal road infrastructure across the country, revealing that his ministry recently arrested vandals removing cat eyes and electrical safety devices from the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos for the second time.

Umahi, who disclosed this during an interview with Arise TV on Thursday, said the suspects were apprehended with the aid of Closed-Circuit Television cameras installed on the bridge following a presidential directive.

“Just about two weeks back, we caught people, and that’s the second time we are catching people removing the cat eyes, electrical devices on top of the bridge,” the minister said.

He explained that the devices, which are relief materials installed on road infrastructure worldwide to reduce pressure on bridges, have become targets for vandals seeking to sell them as scrap.

The minister listed several major projects affected by infrastructure theft, including the Second Niger Bridge, bridges in Jebba, and the Mutala Mohammed Bridge, where vandals remove expansion joints to melt for scrap metal.

According to him, the situation has extended to the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road project, where criminals are destroying New Jersey concrete barriers to extract tiny steel reinforcements.

“People are destroying it, looking for tiny reinforcements. And the efforts they are putting, if they put it to do meaningful legal work, they will earn 10 times that amount,” Umahi lamented.

The minister credited President Bola Tinubu for directing the Ministry of Works to deploy CCTV surveillance on federal roads, noting that the technology made it easier for the Lagos State Police Command to apprehend the Third Mainland Bridge vandals.

He warned that continuous destruction of infrastructure would force the government into repeated repairs, draining resources meant for new projects.

“It is our duty to please know that this infrastructure, if we do not protect it, then the execution, the repairs will have to also be repeated. And that is not good for our society,” Umahi stated.

The minister called on Nigerians to take ownership of public infrastructure and report suspicious activities to security agencies to prevent further degradation of the country’s road network.

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