Fashola Shares Beautiful Photos of Newly Built Bridge in Cross River, It Links Nigeria to Another Country
- The minister of works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, has inspected a border bridge jointly built by Nigeria and Cameroon
- Fashola said the 1.5km border bridge which connects Nigeria and Cameroon in Etung LGA, Cross River state, will facilitate free trade
- The construction of the bridge began in April 2017 and was completed in March 2021 at the cost of $35.9 billion
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Etung LGA, Cross River state - Babatunde Fashola, the minister of works and housing, says the new double lane bridge on the border between Nigeria and Cameroon will facilitate free trade and bring about prosperity.
The minister made this known via a post sighted by Legit.ng on his verified Facebook page on Tuesday, July 27.
Source: Facebook
Fashola also shared some pictures of the bridge saying it is the "first shoot of the harvest of completed projects" by the President Muhammadu-Buhari administration.
This post read:
"This is the first shoot of the harvest of completed projects proposed as our administration enters the second phase of the second term on its way out.
"The prosperity of the people is the reason why President Muhammadu Buhari is pushing infrastructure renewal, because as long as our people are happy, they can travel easily, they can reduce their journey, save time on the road because if you save time you save money."
The Nigeria Cameroon border bridge
Meanwhile, a related report by The Cable indicates that the two-lane bridge is 1.5km long and connects Nigeria and Cameroon in Ekot-Mfum, Etung LGA of Cross River.
Vanguard also reported that construction of the bridge began on April 28, 2017 and was completed in March 2021 at the cost of $35.9 billion, citing the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) as its source.
It is gathered that funding for the project was provided by both countries.
The two countries had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) seeking funds from the bank and other development partners to execute the road transport corridor.
Recently, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said the Enugu-Cameroon corridor would be completed before the end of 2021.
The projects were designed to strengthen trade and cooperation between the two countries.
Fashola inspects project
Speaking at the inspection on Monday, July 26, Fashola added that the current administration plans to renew and expand old infrastructure that would take the two countries to the future for many more decades and strengthen the relationship between them.
He said:
“We have had a strong relationship with the Republic of Cameroon in terms of trade and business.
“If you go to Aba, Enugu, and Abakaliki for example, I can tell you that they are on the route that facilitates trade in agro-produce, merchandise, and manufactured goods from Aba in Abia state.
“You can only expect that this will improve joint border patrol, ensure security, more efficiency which you see from the first buildings formed out of the integration of ECOWAS and sister nations of what the continent should look like."
Since Nigeria is now a signatory to the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA), Fashola said the bridge positions both Nigeria and Cameroon to take the benefit of the trade that the agreement holds.
He added:
“It is really exciting. Looking into the future you can only see more business, more trade, and employment meant for people.”
People of Etung local government area react
Speaking on their behalf, Henry Etuk, the chairman of Etung local government, said the people are pleased with what the federal government had done.
Etuk reiterated that the new bridge would bring about better trade among the people of Nigeria and Cameroon.
He said that the ease of movement and trade would go a long way to improve relationships and foster development in the area.
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Uzodinma leads southeast APC chieftains to inspect Second Niger Bridge project
In another news, Imo state governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma on Friday, February 5 led chieftains of the southeast All Progressives Congress (APC) to inspect the ongoing construction of the Second Niger Bridge.
Also on the entourage of the APC chieftains were members of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo.
In a post shared on his official Twitter page, Governor Uzodinma noted that the delegation came took ownership of the second Niger Bridge project which he stated is estimated at N366 billion.
Source: Legit.ng
