By John Ikani
The Federal Government of Nigeria has ordered the opening of the Second Niger Bridge for use.
The bridge was open at exactly 9:50am on Thursday, December 15, 2022 despite assurances by the Federal Government that the bridge will be opened at 12am.
While inaugurating the bridge for use for one month during the Yuletide, Minister of Works, Mr Babatunde Fashola advised road users plying the bridge to drive safely and responsibly.
He explained that the decision to temporarily open the yet-to-be completed bridge had become necessary to relieve pressure on the first bridge.
“Let me be clear again; we haven’t finished construction work on the bridge, but we would open it for people to use to relieve the pressure from the one bridge. On January 15, 2023, we would reverse that movement for those coming from the east to the west.”
Fashola went on to note that part of money used in constructing the bridge was looted funds recovered mostly from the United States of America.
The Second Niger Bridge was first proposed during the 1978/79 political campaign by then-candidate Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
However, in August 2012, the Federal Executive Council under then-President Goodluck Jonathan’s approved a contract worth N325 million for the final planning and design of the bridge.
A somewhat complicated procedure continued under President Muhammad Buhari, who first cancelled the earlier contract in August 2015. The administration, however, resumed the contract on September 1, 2018.
