President Muhammadu Buhari will be physically absent at the official commissioning of the Second Niger Bridge scheduled to hold on Tuesday, on May 23.
According to sources in the works ministry, who do not want to be mentioned in print, the N336bn bridge, regarded as a legacy project, will be commissioned alongside six other road projects by the president via online platform, Zoom.
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.
