Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, has announced that the Second Niger Bridge would be officially opened at 12:01 am on December 15, 2022, until January 15, 2023.
Fashola, who strolled around the Niger bridge during the inspection, asked drivers to move with caution and good judgment so as to avoid undermining the purpose of the project.
The Minister also stated that the Second Niger Bridge’s inauguration would ease the distress of the travelling public, who are accustomed to traffic during the holiday season.
He added that it would be counterproductive for bridge users to act recklessly and cause unnecessary accidents to happen to others.
Fashola said: “A lot of people have talked about a solution but the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration decided to build the bridge whatever it took. So, wherever the funds came from, investment income, from our oil assets, and repatriation of some funds that were stolen out of Nigeria came in from the US.
“The result is now what we see. When people are talking about poverty, the biggest part of it is not monetary poverty, is multidimensional poverty.
“When you spend two to three days trying to cross a bridge, that’s poverty, because it should take just a few minutes so that you can go and do more productive things.
“The President approved that since the bridge is finished that we should create an access road so that during Christmas you can begin to experience what it would feel like plying the bridge.
“The maximum speed limit on Nigerian roads is 100km per hour. Don’t drive 101km per hour. The President will be happy to see users drive safely and responsibly while using this road, especially during this Christmas and New Year seasons. The President wishes you a merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
“It would be open for traffic going from the west to the east from the 15th Dec 2022- the 15th of January 2023.
“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.”
