{"id":81742,"date":"2026-01-16T21:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=81742"},"modified":"2026-01-16T21:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:38:14","slug":"fg-bans-sand-mining-near-river-niger-bridges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2026\/01\/16\/fg-bans-sand-mining-near-river-niger-bridges\/","title":{"rendered":"FG Bans Sand Mining Near River Niger Bridges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Onyeanya Immaculata<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Federal Government has imposed a ban on sand mining within a 10-kilometre radius of the River Niger to protect the First and Second Niger bridges.<\/p>\n<p>The Minister of Works, David Umahi, announced the decision on Friday in Asaba, Delta State, noting that the ban was approved by the Federal Executive Council to safeguard critical national infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>He directed the Delta State Police Command to enforce the order and arrest violators.<\/p>\n<p>Umahi spoke during the inauguration of the CCTV monitoring centre for the Second Niger Bridge, where he also disclosed that tolling on the bridge would commence only after the completion of all access and bypass roads on the Anambra and Delta sides.<\/p>\n<p>He explained that although tolling infrastructure is in place, the government would delay implementation to ensure smooth traffic flow.<\/p>\n<p>Security on the bridge, he added, would rely on technology rather than physical checkpoints.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe tollgate is ready, but we won\u2019t start tolling until the access and bypass roads are completed,\u201d Umahi said, adding that security agencies would operate from the CCTV centre and respond to emergencies within five minutes.<\/p>\n<p>The Asagba of Asaba, Prof. Epiphany Azinge, commended the Federal Government for completing the Second Niger Bridge, describing it as vital to socio-economic development.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, the Igwe of Obosi and Chairman of the Anambra State Council of Traditional Rulers, Chidubem Iweka, said the bridge has eased traffic on the old Niger Bridge and urged the swift completion of access roads to enhance commuter safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Onyeanya Immaculata The Federal Government has imposed a ban on sand mining within a 10-kilometre radius of the River Niger to protect the First and Second Niger bridges. The Minister of Works, David Umahi, announced the decision on Friday in Asaba, Delta State, noting that the ban was approved by the Federal Executive Council [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":81743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81744,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81742\/revisions\/81744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}