The above photo shows a ferry preparing to cross the river from Asaba to Onitsha in 1959. This was before the construction of the 1st and the 2nd Niger Bridges.
This photo shows the First Niger Bridge, which is a 1.4km Steel Truss bridge that connects Asaba and Onitsha.
It was constructed between 1964 and 1965 at a cost of £6.75m by French company Dumez, and officially commissioned December 1965 by then Prime Minister, late Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
The photo below shows the Second Niger Bridge, which is a 1.6km Concrete bridge that connects Asaba and Onitsha.
It was constructed between Sept 2018 and May 2023 at a cost of ₦336bn by Nigerian company Julius Berger Plc, and commissioned 23 May 2023 by then President Muhammadu Buhari.
To avoid confusion, the First and Second Niger Bridge are often called the First and Second Onitsha Bridge.
This is because there are actually many existing bridges across the River Niger, as shown in the map below:
From 1959 to 2023… quite a journey. Nigeria marches on!
Naija Philia! 
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