Fact-check: Did Julius Berger Commission and Test Streetlights on Second Niger Bridge? 

Fact-check: Did Julius Berger Commission and Test Streetlights on Second Niger Bridge? 

Claim: A recent Whatsapp message accompanied by pictures of a bridge claims that Julius Berger, a construction company, has commissioned the Second Niger Bridge and carried out a test run of the illumination on the streetlight.

Full-Text: 

The text accompanied by pictures of the bridge which was massively forwarded to Whatsapp groups reads, “Photo News: streetlights on the second Niger Bridge commissioned by Julius Berger for Illumination testing. 

“The bridge will be inaugurated in December and opened to traffic.” 

Verification: 

PRNigeria conducted a keyword search and results from Economic Confidential, Daily Post, and Nairaland among other reputable media platforms revealed that the renowned construction company, Julius Berger, has carried out a test run of the illumination on the streetlights of the second Niger Bridge. 

An investigation conducted by PRNigeria further revealed that the bridge is managed by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in collaboration with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA). 

PRNigeria ran a reverse image search of the acclaimed picture of the second Niger Bridge and results revealed AutoJosh—an online media outlet was the first to have published the picture of the bridge—followed by the Eastern Updates, another online platform. 

The spokesperson of the Federal Ministry of Works, Mr Hakeem Bello, confirmed the authenticity of the bridge to PRNigeria, saying “the images are from the second Niger Bridge.” 

Conclusion: based on the facts gathered by PRNigeria, the claim that the bridge has been commissioned is UNTRUE. 

However, Julius Berger has recently carried out a test run of the illumination on the streetlights of the second Niger Bridge which also confirmed the authenticity of the images