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13 Things To Know About The Niger Bridge
- 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
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