With the recent collapse of another bridge at the Jalingo bye-pass in Taraba State, Augustine Osayande asks a pertinent question that is a burden on the people: who'll save the state from the recurring disaster that started since 2005?

August 7, 2005, will continue to be in the memory of residents of Jalingo, Taraba State capital, especially those residing or have their worship centres around the ATC area of the town. It was around 7:00am on that raining day which later turned to sad Sunday that the Nukai Bridge located in the major entrance to the town collapsed after heavy rain. Hundred of lives were lost and properties worth million of naira were also destroyed.

Most of the people who died in the incident were mostly civil servants and local business people who were either rushing to their shops or places of worship that morning. The incident is still fresh in the mind of many people, especially those who have their properties destroyed or lost their relatives and love ones. It is only of recent the military dismantle the emergency bridge they constructed to ease traffic after the tragedy.

As people made effort to put the 2005 catastrophe behind them, similar incident struck the state capital almost in the same manner. This time, it was the Jalingo bye-pass which was constructed and commissioned just before the exit of the administration of governor Jolly Nyame. One of the two bridge in the bye-pass, which was constructed by Sterling Construction Company, a company that have since be declared bankrupted collapsed on the September 10, after another heavy rainfall.

Although there was no life lost in the latest incident, probably because the location of the bye-pass does not favour heavy traffic and the time the incident occurred was too early for most people to use the road that day. The incident has resulted to total closure of the road.

Many residents are beginning to worry on the need to look into the causes of such disaster which is now a recurring event, and what to do in order to prevent further occurrence. This is very important because concerned agencies like the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) have also warned that two other bridges in the state capital may collapse at any time. The FRSC warning, especially on the Mayo-Gwoi Bridge, started since early 2007.

The commission has since declared the bridge a death trap. Again, immediately after the recent collapse of one of the bridges at the bye-pass, the commission after inspecting the road also warned of the possible collapsing of the second bridge at the same road. FERMA has also added their voice to this warning. THISDAY investigation recently showed that the pavement and several supporting pillars of the Mayo-Gwoi Bridge have been wash away by flood.

During their tour of federal roads in the state recently, members of the Senate Committee on Works expressed shock and disbelief at the condition of bridges constructed during the colonial period across the state. The chairman of the committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya said members of the committee were surprised that military bridges built in colonial times were still in use in most parts of the state.

However, the committee quickly decided that the N500 million approved for rehabilitation of Jalingo/Sunkani road in 2008 budget should be used in constructing new bridges to replace four of the colonial bridges they saw on the road which was almost collapsing. A visit to Yoro local government area would also reveal more of such bridges which are on the verge of collapsing.

Recently it was a drama when members of the State House of Assembly went on projects inspection tour to Karim-Lamido local government area of the state. Most of their expensive Toyota Hillux Jeeps got stuck and were abandoned on the Balaifi-Maraba Bridge. THISDAY gathered that it took the assistance of some youth in the area before the stranded state lawmakers were able to cross the bridge without their vehicles.

For many people in the area, the bridge including that of Lamurde are among other set of bridges in the state that if nothing urgent is done, the unexpected disaster would occur.

With many of such bridges spread all over the state and little or nothing tangible is being done to stem this waves of bridge collapse, many people in the state are now wondering who will save the state from the disastrous recurrence.