Comparing cost of two bridges in Ogun, by John Ojelabi

I have seen bridges and I have seen bridges. While the 295 meters Goodluck Jonathan walkway that links the Blocks C and D of the New Secretariat building built by the past administration in Ogun State under Otunba Gbenga Daniel at a value of N35 million can be considered as a bridge, the 97 meters air conditioned, lock and key pedestrian bridge built by the incumbent administration under Senator Ibikunle Amosun at a value of N290 million could also pass for a bridge. But your worry is almost the same as mine considering the fact that why would a pedestrian bridge of 97 meters long be much more, as much as nine times more expensive than that which is 295 meters, almost four times longer than the former. This, of course, warranted the need for a little research on why it should be so.
My curiosity led me to discover that while there might be some ‘features’ in the bridge, which the Amosun administration built. Those features are nowhere to be found in the bridge the Daniel administration built. Come along with me as we do a thorough analysis of these features. For the purpose of our analysis, I will be referring to the Daniel bridge as the Goodluck-Jonathan walkway, while the Amosun bridge will be referred to as the Totoro Pedestrian Bridge.
The Totoro Pedestrian bridge has installed in it an air conditioning system, which the Goodluck Jonathan bridge doesn’t have. I went further to ascertain that the most expensive air conditioners with a capacity of 5hp (Horse power) sells for about N280,000. Now, If 20 of those were to be installed in the Goodluck Jonathan Walkway, we would have had an additional N5.6 million to add to the N35 million worth of the Goodluck Jonathan bridge with no AC. But unfortunately, even the Totoro pedestrian bridge has less than 5 split air conditioning system with a capacity of 1.5 horsepower each.
Again, the Totoro Pedestrian Bridge has aluminium windows to prevent the bridge users from being seen from outside, if I’m right about the essence of the aluminium windows. After enquiring from a friend who does aluminium, I was told that the cost of putting up the aluminium at the worst case scenario shouldn’t be more than N500,000. Again, let’s do a bit of mathematics. The addition of N35 million, N5.6 million and N500,000 gives N41 million, which doesn’t even add up to the N260 million wasted on our prestigious Totoro Pedestrian Bridge.
Surprisingly, the Totoro bridge was again roofed to prevent the effects of the scorching sun and heavy rain on the purported users of our Prestigious Totoro Bridge, but I was made to understand that the roofing couldn’t have been more than N2 million being cost of materials and workmanship. So this brings us back to our mathematics: N41 million plus another N2 million is just N43 million, which wouldn’t even come near the N260 million wasted on the Totoro bridge.
Apparently, if the Goodluck Jonathan Walkway, as it is being called, was to have the features of the Totoro Bridge, it would have probably been built with about N43 million plus or minus N2 million being cost of inflation from 2010 when the Goodluck Jonathan Walkway was built to 2012 when the Totoro Pedestrian Bridge was built with security doors. I guess at this juncture, it won’t be wrong to ask our governor to give an account of the excess N217 million spent. I mean wasted on the Totoro Bridge.
Apparently, if a sitting governor of about two years could be involved in a financial mess of over N217 million, then it is indeed worthless and in fact political, persecuting a past governor of eight years for a financial crime of N200 million.