Photo shared on social media shows bridge in China, not Nigeria

“This is the famous Spaghetti Highway Bridge built by Ben Ayade linking Calabar Municipality and Odukpani LGA in Cross River province Biafraland (sic),” reads the Facebook post published on July 21, 2023.

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A screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on July 24, 2023

The post references a project championed by Cross River governor Ben Ayade who, in 2018, finalised plans to build a flyover connecting the state’s capital to its southern region (archived here). The design’s intersecting, undulating roads earned it the name “spaghetti flyover”.

Shared more than 440 times, the post was published by Biafra Broadcast Isiagu, an account that supports the Nigerian separatist group the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The group wants the independence of Nigeria’s southeast region, and its supporters regularly resort to disinformation in their campaigns. AFP Fact Check has debunked numerous false stories (including here and here) posted on the Biafra Broadcast Isiagu page.

An account on Twitter, which is being rebranded “X”, also shared the bridge claim.

However, the claim is false.

Bridge in China

Using reverse image searches, AFP found that the United Arab Emirates-based Khaleej magazine published the same photo on Twitter on May 7, 2023, (archived here).

The caption explains that the photo shows the Nansha Bridge in Guangzhou in China. Chinese media reported that the bridge opened to traffic in April 2019 (archived here).

Chinese news agency Xinhua reported on April 2, 2019, that the 12.8-kilometre bridge connects Guangzhou and Dongguan (archived here). The news agency used a photo similar to the one in the false Facebook post in its report.

A keyword search for “Nansha Bridge” on Google Maps shows it's in China. Also known as Second Humen Bridge, the bridge can be seen in the Google Maps satellite picture below.

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A screenshot shows the Nansha Bridge on Google Maps, taken on July 24, 2023

Spaghetti Flyover

While there is a bridge in Calabar known as Spaghetti Flyover, photos published by a Turkish architectural firm show that the design differs from the one seen in the false claim (archived here).

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Screenshots show differences between the designs of Nansha Bridge, below, and Spaghetti Flyover, taken on July 24, 2023

A statement published on the state governor's website shows Ayade inspected the flyover site on April 11, 2023 (archived here). Although he had vowed that his project would be completed before the end of his term in May 2023, it is yet to be finished.