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Viral photo shows Nansha bridge in China, not road in Nigeria's Cross Rivers state

IN SHORT: A former governor of Nigeria’s Cross River state promised to complete the Calabar-Odukpani flyover before he left office. He didn’t, hence these pictures show a bridge in China, not Nigeria.

A photo posted on Facebook in July 2023 claims to show a bridge linking the Calabar and Odukpani local government areas in Nigeria’s Cross River state

The post reads: “This is the famous Spaghetti Highway Bridge built byJagaban linking Calabar Municipality and Odukpani LGA in Cross River State.”

Cross River state is located in the southeastern part of Nigeria. 

The construction of the Calabar-Odukpani road, also known as the “spaghetti flyover”, was initiated by former Cross River governor Ben Ayade in 2019.

The flyover was meant to ease traffic into the state capital Calabar city, but the project was unfinished when he left office on 29 May 2023.

The same claim appeared on Facebook here, here, here, here and here.  

But is this a photo of the Calabar-Odukpani flyover? We checked.

NigeriaBridge_False

Photo of  China’s Nansha bridge

A Google reverse image search of the photo shows that it is the Nansha Bridge located in Guangzhou, China’s Guangdong province – and not anywhere in Nigeria.

The eight lane bridge was opened to traffic in April 2019 and connects parts of the Pearl River Delta with some areas in the western part.

The photo making the rounds on Nigerian social media is not of the Calabar-Odukpani flyover in Cross River state, but of the Nansha Bridge in Guangdong Province, China.

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