Tinubu directs repair of collapsed Mokwa Bridge
June 4, 2025 by and Joshua Oboh
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the immediate repair of the collapsed Mokwa bridge in Niger State.
The bridge linking the Northern and Southern parts of the country caved in following heavy floods that resulted in the deaths of many and the loss of properties in three Mokwa communities.
Yesterday, the death toll rose with the recovery of seven more bodies.
Minister of State for Works Bello Goronyo revealed the order for the repair of the bridge.
He told the village head of Mokwa, Mohammed Aliyu, that he was in the state on the President’s instruction.
Goronyo said: “The President gave a clear directive for me to come and commiserate with the government and people of Niger State over the ugly incident.
“In his directive, he said we should do everything possible to restore the access road for vehicular movement on the damaged bridge washed away by the flood.
“The President directed that we provide an access road for vehicular movement and create an access road due to the high volume of articulated vehicles carrying goods from the North to the South.”
Goronyo assured that the ministry would do more in areas of infrastructure, particularly in Niger, because of its strategic location.
The village head told the minister that four other bridges, including a rail bridge, were swept away by the floods.
Aliyu, who confirmed that many people were still missing, added that over 200 houses were damaged.
He appealed to the government to resettle those affected by the disaster.
Deputy Governor Yakubu Garba thanked President Tinubu for the condolence visit and expressed happiness over the show of concern by his administration.
Secretary to the State Government, Abubakar Usman, said seven more bodies were recovered between Monday and yesterday morning.
“Four of the bodies were recovered on Monday and one body in the early hours of Tuesday (yesterday), while two more bodies were also later recovered in the ongoing search efforts,” Usman explained in a statement.
The SSG, who said the bodies had been buried, appealed to residents to remain calm and prayerful in this moment of collective grief.
The statement partly reads: “We urge everyone to avoid spreading unverified or misleading information that may further deepen sorrow, incite panic, or cause unnecessary confusion within our communities.
“While we continue to mourn the lives lost, the government remains committed to providing the necessary support to affected families and intensifying rescue and relief efforts where needed.”
The statement was issued after Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs Ahmad Suleiman corroborated the Deputy Governor on the death toll yesterday.
“We have more than 200 casualties or corpses, but we are still looking for more. We are still recovering corpses up till now,” the commissioner said.
Suleiman added that the government has directed the distribution of relief materials to the displaced victims quartered in makeshift camps.
He said: “The Niger State Government has put things in place and there are lots of contributions from various agencies and ministries.
“The government has sent trailers of rice to the victims. The wife of the governor also visited the local government and donated N50 million.”
The survivors, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the conditions of their temporary camps and the handling of relief materials sent to them.
One of the residents, who gave her name as Mama Isa, said: ‘’We are 17 people in my household, but we were only given one loaf of bread and tea. How can that be enough for even our breakfast?”
She appealed to the government to allow well-meaning individuals and organisations to support them directly.
A community volunteer, Hussaini Muhammed, described the camps as unsuitable for human habitation.
According to a circular sighted by The Nation, N203.6 million has so far been donated to the victims.
The Federal Government has clarified that the Mokwa flood was man-made and not caused by the release of water from the Kainji or Jebba dams.
It attributed the tragedy to “heavy rainfall,’’ which “overwhelmed local drainage systems’’ in the affected Mokwa communities.
“The flood was primarily due to heavy rainfall caused by extreme weather conditions linked to climate change, which overwhelmed local drainage systems in Mokwa,” Water Resources and Sanitation Minister Joseph Utsev told reporters in Abuja.
Utsev further explained that unregulated construction blocked an ephemeral tributary of River Dingi, an offshoot of River Niger, thereby worsening the situation.
He recalled that the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) had in its 2025 Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) issued on April 10 warned of the possibility of flooding in Mokwa and 18 other local governments in the state.
He described the Mokwa incident as a “stark reminder” of the growing impact of climate change on Nigeria’s water systems and emphasised the ministry’s commitment to managing water resources sustainably and building climate-resilient communities.
The minister commended the state government and local authorities for their swift response to the tragedy.
Reiterating NIHSA warnings, Utsev urged states and local governments to urgently strengthen their drainage infrastructure, relocate communities from flood-prone areas, increase public awareness campaigns and enforce land-use regulations to stop encroachments.
