IT was a joyous mood for many residents of the Southeast and beyond, yesterday, as President Muhammadu Buhari virtually inaugurated the all-important Second Niger Bridge, 18 years after it was conceived.
The tape to mark its opening to the public was cut by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige, assisted by Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo and other top federal and state governments functionaries and dignitaries from the Southeast.
With the inauguration, travellers to Enugu, Owerri, Aba and other parts of the Southeast from Asaba, Delta State, who have no business in Onitsha, Anambra State, will avoid the traffic bottlenecks into the commercial city, as the 11.5 kilometre Second Niger Bridge across the River Niger and access roads linking Asaba, the Delta State capital, with Ogbaru in Anambra State and beyond formally opens to permanent use by the public.
This is a dream come true after about five decades of failed promises by successive administrations.
The newly constructed access roads at Oko in Delta State to the 1.63-kilomtre bridge and the Onitsha/Obosi interchange make it about 12 kilometres long.
The main phase of the project, which is the bridge itself, was completed late last year and temporarily opened to the public during the Yuletide, while contracts for the access roads from near the Asaba Airport and Obosi to the Onitsha-Enugu, as well as Onitsha-Owerri expressway, was awarded to the same contractors handling the bridge, Julius Berger Plc.
Six other legacy projects executed by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing- the two remaining sections of the Abuja-Kano Expressway, Loko-Oweto Bridge across River Benue to link Benue to Nasarawa State and the Ikom Bridge in Cross River State and Federal Secretariats in Awka (Anambra State); Gusau (Zamfara and Yenagoa (Bayelsa State) were also virtually inauguration by the President.
The Second Niger Bridge was initially scheduled for commissioning by the President on May 15, but had to be shelved due to the President’s absence from the country.
Neighbouring communities in Asaba and Onitsha rolled out drums in appreciation of the President for completing the bridge, launched by former President Goodluck Jonathan in March, 2014, and named it after him.
Representatives of the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe and the Asagba of Asaba, Obi Chike Edozien, described the completion of the bridge as a big relief to the people of the South-South and Southeast.
Ngige said the delivery of the bridge was a fulfilment of promise made by Buhari and expressed gratitude to him for that.
Earlier, Special Assistant to the President on Digital and New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi, in a tweet, disclosed the decision of the Southeast governors to named the bridge after Buhari, saying: “Following consultations, the governors of the Southeast have agreed that the Second Niger Bridge shall be named the Muhammadu Buhari Second Niger Bridge.”
