The Federal Government has reopened the First Niger Bridge to traffic after about 38 days of closure, restoring the link between Onitsha in Anambra State and Asaba in Delta State.
The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, reopened the bridge on Thursday alongside federal and state representatives, including traditional rulers from Anambra and Delta states.
Built in 1965, the bridge was initially closed to traffic from September 7 to 21 to allow for emergency rehabilitation and maintenance after vandalised structural components, including the expansion-joint steelwork, were discovered.
The closure was later extended indefinitely as persistent rainfall and other unforeseen circumstances delayed the rehabilitation works.
Speaking at the opening ceremony at the Onitsha end of the bridge, Umahi said President Bola Tinubu had worked hard for the South-East and urged residents to support his re-election bid on January 16, 2027.
He said the necessary infrastructure had been put in place to ensure smoother traffic flow, adding that the rehabilitation works were designed to ease congestion and improve road safety.
He said, “We have every reason to thank the governors of Anambra and Delta states.
“We must commend the contractors, SKCC, very, very highly; they have worked very well. We are not 100 per cent done because we are going to do [more work]. The evidence of what we are doing today is a total testimony that President Bola Tinubu is indeed a detribalised Nigerian.
“What other regions are getting, the people of the South-South and South-East are getting it. And so, why should we not appreciate the President? If the President, God forbid, were not the President in 2027, do you think that any of these people marauding would have the capacity, the audacity, the courage, the wisdom, the pedigree to do this?
“For how many years, we had Enugu-Onitsha Road, nobody could pass it. Why was there no governor that intervened?
“We have no regret supporting President Bola Tinubu. Let me declare, in opening this bridge, that I have no regret supporting Mr President.
“I am very, very proud for him to be my boss. He is the most qualified and eminently qualified to lead this country.
“And so, by the power of Mr President and in our deep appreciation of what he has done for the people of the South-South and South-East on this bridge, it is my humble pleasure, with gratitude to God Almighty, to open this bridge for the benefit of our people, in Jesus’ name.”