FG To Sign Final Endorsement To National Stadium, Lagos Concession - Says Enoh

FG To Sign Final Endorsement To National Stadium, Lagos Concession - Says Enoh

By Niyi Busari

The Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh has said that the Federal Government will today sign the final endorsement to National Stadium, Surulere concession, BSNSports.com.ng reports.

Enoh made this known on Morning Show on Arise TV on Wednesday.

He said, "I have asked this question, had the present Senate President, Godswill Akpabio didn't have the foresight to build that stadium, so, Nigeria wouldn't have had any stadium to play FIFA and CAF competitions? It's as sad as that.

"One of the first thing that I did after becoming the Minister was to do some facility tours, the Moshood Abiola Stadium incidentally is my office. I went to Lagos and because I have been briefed about the concession that was already on. And I said if concession of the stadium is the only thing that will get back on track, I will give it my 100% support.

"As one of the thing my leadership as the Minister has been able to accomplish apart from the Anti-Doping bill which we were not able to achieve for many years, is also the fact that today the Ministry is signing off the memo to cabinet office to give final endorsement to the National Stadium Lagos concession. I have pursued it with seals and passion because I didn't think that facility located where it's now should remain in the state it's currently characterized in. 

"Nigeria had been unable to get rid of the problem because the concession started dated back to 2012 but the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be the one that will find the solution to the problem." 

"A few weeks ago, we have a team that came from FIFA and CAF for inspection because I was asking questions, how come, you know FIFA and CAF rated matches are not played in Abuja. A month after I took over, I was made to take custody of the playing turf, that have gone through many programes. I made i remark on that day that there are some kind of matches that could not be played on the turf, so, what kind of work have they been doing at the stadium?

Last week before I traveled for the Paralympics, I had to invite the contractor and out this before him, and he promised to get the playing turf to the required standard. 

"My take away from our camping in Germany is that there is no reason a country like Nigeria can not have such facilities and if we it takes to grade Moshood Abiola Stadium to that standard that we don't need to go out of the country and burn foreign currencies, we are going to do that."

The National Stadium, which was built in 1972 ahead of the All Africa Games in 1973, has not functioned effectively for over 15 years due to poor maintenance of the facilities.

The immediate past Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, through his adopt-a-facility programme, was able to secure a private sector-government partnership that saw Chief Adebutu Kessington fixing the tartan tracks, the football pitch, and the scoreboard.

Owan-Enoh said he had been forced to give a second thought to the planned concessioning given the state of the facility, adding, however, that government would take the best possible option.  He said: “Of course, I said on Thursday that I would support the concession of the National Stadium in Lagos, but after discussions, thereafter, I also think about the possibility of bringing down the stadium because the creative industry has benefitted from such arrangements with the National Arts Theatre in Lagos.