Engineers of the Nigerian Army have handed over the reconstructed Ohan Bailey bridge, on the Ilorin-Igbeti road, to the Kwara State government.

The bridge linking Ilorin with Northern parts and Oyo North area, constructed over 40 years ago by the Nigerian Army engineers, totally collapsed in December 2009, causing untold hardship to people who ply the road.

Speaking during the handing over ceremony in Ilorin on Wednesday, the Commissioner for Works and Transport, Dr Abubakar Kannike, said the state government intervened on the federal road last November, with the release of N42.4 million for immediate reconstruction work, so as not to paralyse socio-economic activities in the affected areas.

Kannike, who said the state government contacted the 22 Army Brigade, Sobi, Kwara State, for the reconstruction, since it was originally constructed by the Nigerian Army, particularly with similar one done in
Sokoto as a result of flood disaster experienced.

He, therefore, commended the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 2 Division, Ibadan, the Commander, 22 Army Brigade, Ilorin and the entire engineering corps of the division for the prompt completion of the project.

Also speaking, the GOC, 2 Mechanised Division, Ibadan, Major-General Mohammed Abubakar, represented by Brigadier-General Saidu Bello of the 22 Army Brigade Command, Ilorin, said the reconstruction took 11 weeks for completion, adding that the execution of the project was in line with the vision of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant-General O.A. Ihejirika, to "transform the Nigerian Army into a force able to meet contemporary challenges of which assistance to civil authorities was emphasised."