Fashola says Ipob's sit-at-home protest has affected the completion of the Second Niger Bridge

NIGERIA'S minister of works and housing Babatunde Fashola has admitted that the sit-at-home protest called by the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) across the southeast geo-political zone is affecting project implementation in the region.

Following the abduction and arrest of Ipob leader Nnamdi Kanu in June last year in Kenya and his arraignment before an Abuja court, his supporters have called for sit-at-home protests across the southeast whenever he appears in court. These sit-at-homes have now grown, however and take place every Monday, being well policed by Ipob's military wing the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

Despite calls for the protests to be limited to when Mr Kanu appears in court, they have developed a life of their own with ESN operatives out on the streets every week to ensure compliance. Due to a combination of sympathy, fear and rigid enforcement, the protests have been very successful despite calls from political leaders asking that they be called off.

Speaking on the progress of work on the Second Niger Bridge, Mr Fashola, said the Anambra State side section of the project is being affected by the sit-at-home protests. According to the minister, 1,486 people have been directly employed for the bridge, while another 8,110 indirect jobs have been created as a result of it.

Mr Fashola said: “Just last week, I was briefing about the challenges we are facing on the Anambra side of the second Niger Bridge where people are being told not to go to work or to sit at home on Mondays. Every day that we don’t work there is time lost, so if you look at a 52 week year that does not start on a Monday, you will have probably 52 more days, so we lose 52 days work, that is a lot work to lose on a construction site.”

He added that the bridge earlier scheduled for completion last February was delayed due to the Covis-19 lockdown and the Endsars protests. According to Mr Fashola, the bridge has now reached 91% completion.