North East Development Commission (NEDC) has partnered the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) to assess, reconstruct and renovate roads and bridges destroyed by flood disaster in the six states of North East region.
The Managing Director/CEO, NEDC, Ambassador Mohammed Goni Alkali, disclosed to journalists at the Head Office of the commission immediately after a closed door meeting with leadership of the NSE in Maiduguri over the weekend.
According to him, sequel to flood disaster and degree of destruction witnessed from the recent flood disaster in almost all the states of the North East region either truncating vehicular intra and inter states movements by motorists, the commission deemed it fit to intervene by entering partnership with NSE with a view to give th commission professional advice and guidance on how to address the problem of bridge collapse or washing away of roads and bridges to ease vehicular movements within and outside a the states of the North East .
He added that the situation and interventions require experts and professionals to assess the level of damages and advice the commission accordingly with a view to effect repairs to the destroyed bridges particularly.
The MD mentioned that the total number of bridges involved is currently unknown and will only be determined after the NSE assessment and recommendations. Although NSE has requested a partner for a long time, the MoU hasn’t been signed by both the commission and NSE until now ¹.
In his comments, the Chairman of NSE, Borno State Chapter , Engineer Shettima Mohammed said the Society of Nigerian Engineers is ever ready to work with the commission to ensure quality and durable reconstruction work is achieved .
He added that NSE has the capacity and professionals to effectively handle the assessment and reconstruction of the bridges which already the society has written and requested for partnership to contribute its quota to the development of the North East infrastructural facilities.
The Chairman said details of there reconstruction work of the bridges affected will be ascertained and made available to commission as required along side analysis of specifications and design work sheet and framework for each of the destroyed bridge within the time frame