Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed, says the funding for the Second Niger Bridge, came through budgetary allocations and recoveries from Abacha loot, among other sources.
She said the National Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) invested its funds and of other investors in the Second Niger Bridge project
Ahmed also stated that the project was designed to uplift the lives of people of the South East and South/South regions, adding that it will ease traffic and enhance commerce and trade.
Furthermore, she revealed that the Federal Government has spent N157 billion on the Second Niger Bridge out of an initial contract sum of N205 billion.
Ahmed said the technology used to construct the bridge, which was 94% completed, was being used for the first time in Africa having been used successfully in Hamburg, Germany.
Ahmed spoke yesterday in Onitsha, Anambra State, during an inspection of the bridge.
She said, “The Second Niger Bridge is an iconic project in the country. Cost at an initial contract sum of N205 billion. Today, we have been able to fund this project to the tune of N157 billion.
“I am here to see where all that money is going. And also, the significance of today is that the final civil works on the bridge are being completed, linking both ends of the bridge together. What is left are the finishing works.
“For me, I can say to Mr President that I have seen where all of the N157 billion has gone into.”
