Vandals remove road fittings from newly inaugurated Second Niger Bridge

The Second Niger bridge has become a target for vandals as they removed the road fittings installed on the newly inaugurated bridge.

It was gathered that the vandalisation on the road fittings occurred on Wednesday, with the expansion joint walkway on axis 330 of the bridge stolen.

The stolen fitting is an element from the expansion joints of the bridge as a source warned that drivers on that road have to be careful as the damaged part can cause distress to motorists.

Recall, the Second Niger Bridge was first proposed during the 1978/79 political campaign by then-candidate Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

The Second Niger bridge, which is patterned after the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos, the 1.6 kilometres long bridge linking Anambra and Delta states is built to decongest traffic on the existing Niger Bridge, enhance economic activities, and connect the South-East with other parts of the country.

The Federal Government on December 15, 2022, temporarily opened the Second Niger Bridge for use to ease traffic in the South-East during the festive season and closed it again for completion of adjoining links from Delta State.

The former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, announced the completion of the bridge at a media briefing in October 2022 after almost five decades of failed promises by successive administrations, until the former President, Muhammadu Buhari, commissioned the N336 billion bridge, alongside seven other infrastructural projects on May 23.

Meanwhile, the supervising engineers for the project have expressed serious concern over the incident.