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13 Things To Know About The Niger Bridge

Published

9 years ago

April 5, 2018

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The Niger Bridge is also called the “Onitsha Bridge” or “River Niger Bridge”.
The Bridge connects Onitsha in Anambra State to Asaba in Delta state.
The Niger bridge is about 1, 400 meters long.
The Niger Bridge is one of Nigeria’s long lasting national landmarks.
In the 1950s, Dutch Company, the Netherlands Engineering Consultants of The Hague, Holland (NEDECO), carried out a feasibility study and the design for the bridge.
The French construction company, Dumez, constructed the Bridge.
It took about a year (1964 to 1965) to complete the construction of the River Niger Bridge. The bridge was completed on December 1965.
The cost of the construction of the Niger Bridge was £6.75 million.
The Niger Bridge was 8×420 ft. with a carriageway of 36 feet centre-truss. It also had a pedestrian walkway on both sides of the carriageway.
The Niger Bridge was commissioned by the then Prime Minister of Nigeria, Sir Tafawa Balewa, and was opened for traffic in December 1965.
The commissioning of the bridge was the last public function of the Prime Minister before his assassination on January 15, 1966.
During the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 – 1970, in an attempt to halt the Nigerian military advance, retreating Biafran soldiers destroyed the River Niger Bridge at Onitsha, trapping the Nigerians on the Asaba side of the river.
During President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administration, the bridge was rehabilitated by replacing two spans on the Onitsha end of the Bridge that was damaged during the civil war with a 14-foot wide bailey