The commissioning of the Second Niger Bridge is a watershed moment in Nigeria. Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, captured the essence of the feat with the following words: “I am here and personally overjoyed. I speak on behalf of my people of Anambra State and also speak on behalf of the people of South-East Nigeria: Today is a day of joy!”
The Second Niger Bridge took almost all of five decades to get constructed. Not a few Nigerians had tagged the project jinxed after the many false starts of building the bridge across the River Niger by past Nigerian administrations. President Buhari takes the eagles feather for ensuring that the idea of the Niger Bridge has at last come to fruition.
The 1.63-metre-long Second Niger Bridge that connects Onitsha City in Anambra State with Asaba, the capital of Delta State, is a key national infrastructure with immense socio-economic benefits for the contiguous states and indeed the entire Nigerian nation.
A project of the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by the Ministry of Works and Housing in collaboration with the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, the Second Niger Bridge as masterfully constructed by Julius Berger Nigeria PLC will ease traffic flow, improve road safety, and create greater opportunities for local residents by advancing the commercial viability of the immediate area and regenerating economic life.
The adjoining roads from Oko-Amakom in Delta State to the bridge, and from the Onitsha end of the bridge to the Obosi interchange are some 12 kilometres long.
Commuters can now heave a sigh of relief with the guarantee of avoiding the hurly-burly of Onitsha township traffic. The ugly sight of ill-assorted transporters and commuters being trapped in traffic congestion for hours on end, day and night, on the decrepit old Niger Bridge will now be a thing of the past.
Being a strategic national infrastructure, the Second Niger Bridge offers great socio-economic prospects for the South-East states, Delta State and the nation at large. It is noteworthy that the former President of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, during his time in office said that the Second Niger Bridge would be an important economic artery that will connect the great markets of Onitsha and Aba, as well as the industrial hub of Nnewi and beyond, to both the northern and southern parts of the country. Such a crucial artery of commerce ought not to have witnessed the delays that attended its construction. It is a mark of President Buhari’s commitment to the general good that he summoned the political will to mobilize the fund for the completion of the project.
The construction of the bridge will go a long way in allaying the fears of experts who had for many years been warning that the old bridge on the Niger has become a wobbly disaster waiting to happen. Of course the old bridge will still be in use, but the traffic will be drastically reduced. But even so, palliative work still needs to be done to put the aging bridge in fine fettle.
The essence of the construction of the Second Niger Bridge is akin to saving commuters from Thomas Hobbes state of nature in which life is harsh, brutish and short. The time is gone when passing through the old bridge to get into Onitsha reminded all and sundry of Dantes Inferno as per: “Abandon hope all ye who enter here!”
The structure which is 1,590 metres long in total consists of two parallel pre-stressed concrete box girder bridges, each 14.5 metres wide. The bridge has been cultivated using the cantilever method while the ramp bridges are cultivated with the incremental launching method.
The Second Niger Bridge indeed has a long history, having been first proposed during the Second Republic of President Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Then in 1987, Military President General Ibrahim Babangida
challenged the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) to design a master plan for the bridge. President Olusegun Obasanjo symbolically flagged off the construction of the bridge five days to his departure from power. President Goodluck Jonathan then approved a contract of N325 million for the bridge.
President Buhari has finally delivered the Second Niger Bridge that is named after him. For this uplifting parting gift, the government and people of Anambra State are full of gratitude to President Buhari.
Written by SIR PAUL NWOSU
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