FG announces date for full opening of 2nd Niger Bridge

The federal government says works on the second Niger Bridge has been completed and will be ready for public use in the second week of may.

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fash­ola, disclosed the in­formation through the Min­ister of Information and Culture, Lia Mohammed, shortly after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chambers on Wednesday.

According to him, the Bridge is fully completed and set to be handed over to the end users by May 15, 2023.

Besides the 2nd Niger Bridge, other national projects such as the Loko Oweto Bridge, Kano-Zaria Road, completed Federal Secretariats in Nasara­wa, Akwa Ibom, Zamfara, among others, would be handed over to the end us­ers by the government.

Recall that the Feder­al Government has vari­ously used the 2nd Niger Bridge as one of its land­mark projects executed by the administration despite lean resources.

On several occasions, it has used the project to mock successive admin­istrations of using it as conduit pipe to fleece the country of its re­sources.

Lai Mohammed said, “The first memo he pre­sented today was a memo seeking approval for re­vised estimated total cost of a contract for the completion of Phase 2 of Uto Bridge, 2.6 kilometer stretch in Ikenke, Delta State. This is an old proj­ect which we are commit­ted to completing, I think the project was awarded in year 2006, but we are com­mitted to completing it so today the FEC approved the sum of N1.398 billion to re­vise the contract from the N4.435 billion to N5.835 bil­lion, inclusive of 7.5% VAT, to ensure that we’re able to complete this project before we leave.

“Also the Minister of Works brought approval for the ongoing bypass­ing, I think along the La­gos-Ibadan Expressway, but the good thing about this project is that we can very confidently and proudly announce that the Kano- Zaria 137-kilometer and the Zaria-Kaduna, 73 kilo­meters, will be handed over to us on May 15. Ditto the second Niger Bridge will be handed over to us on May 15, the Lagos-Ibadan 116 kilometers, with toll gates, will be handed over to us on April 30.

“The Loko-Oweto Bridge is also completed, so also is the Ikom Bridge completed. Our Federal Secretariats in Nasarawa, Awka, Bayelsa and Zamfara states are also completed and the Zuba housing project, 700 apart­ments, they’re also already for commissioning”.