With Nigeria’s Federal and Lagos State government yet to announce how much of taxpayers money goes into maintenance expenditure of its Third Mainland Bridge, Cote d’Ivoire launches its fourth today. Coincidence?
In preparation for a wide-range conducive road network, Cote d’Ivoire officially launches its fourth bridge crossing across the Abidjan lagoon as AFCON commences.
This was made public by ex-BBC, now Newsday correspondent James Copsnall on his X (formerly Twitter) handle as his caption reads: “This is the 4th bridge across the lagoon in Abidjan – officially opened today. Part of the billion dollars of infrastructure development linked in some way to AFCON – and aimed at reducing traffic, which has become quite a problem as the city grows.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Government of Nigeria commenced the maintenance of its Third Mainland Bridge connecting the city of Lagos and its localities on January 9th 2024, after several promises to rebuild the bridge. This crucial public service rendered by the Government of Cote d’Ivoire to its citizens has attracted criticism from Nigerians, a nation whose economic growth, according to World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects reports, is softened down to an estimated 2.9 percent in 2023 due to a disruptive currency demonetization policy.
However, the newly launched Bridge in Cote d’Ivoire has a toll that the road users are required to pay before passing. A Nigerian pointed out, “In Nigeria, citizens will pay to ply a road funded with public funds yet have no good road to use.”
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