President Muhammadu Buhari will not be present in physically at the Second Niger Bridge’s official launching on Tuesday (tomorrow).
According to reports, the N336 billion bridge, regarded as a legacy project, will be commissioned alongside six other road projects by the president using an internet platform called Zoom.
However, one of the sources pointed out that the motorway between Lagos and Ibadan is not a component of the six-road project that will be put into service.
This is in spite of Babatunde Fashola, the minister of works and housing, making guarantees that it would be finished by April 30.
The sources said the “second Niger bridge will be commissioned on May 23. The president will perform the ceremony via Zoom. Also, six other road projects will be commissioned.”
Staff from the ministry have already arrived in Asaba, Delta State, where preparations for tomorrow’s event are well under way.
Tolu Ogunlesi, the President’s Special Assistant on Digital and New Media, also made a suggestion that some initiatives will be formally made available to the public on Sunday, during the outgoing president’s transition week.
“This is going to be the most momentous Transition Week in the history of Nigeria, with the commissioning of three brand new Bridges; Second Niger Bridge, the Loko-Oweto Bridge, and the Ikom Bridge in Cross Rivers.”
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, announced the completion of the bridge at a briefing in October 2022 after almost five decades of failed promises by successive administrations.
On December 15, 2022, the Federal Government also opened the Second Niger Bridge for use to ease traffic in the South-East during the festive season.
The Second Niger Bridge was first proposed during the 1978/79 political campaign by then-candidate Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria.
Patterned after the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos, the Second Niger Bridge, no doubt, has all the paraphernalia of a modern bridge with its smooth surface and spacious terrain to allow for a pleasurable ride.
Among the differences between the old and new bridges is that the new bridge is more extensive and can accommodate more than six vehicles on its lanes; it also has a demarcation that separates inward and outward-bound cars, which the old bridge does not have because it has become too narrow to accommodate the increasing influx of vehicles.
The 1.6 kilometres long bridge links Anambra and Delta states.
It is hoped that the project will decongest the existing Niger Bridge, boost economic activities, and connect the South-East with the rest of the country.
Efforts to reach the ministry spokesperson, Blessing Adams-Lere, for official confirmation, proved abortive, as phone calls were not responded to as of press time.
