Sports minister gives fresh hopes on abandoned national stadiums

The Sport Minister, Sunday Dare on Wednesday gave fresh hope on renovation, concession and repair of national stadiums across the country.

Dare gave the assurance on the sidelines of the Super Falcon’s match against Algeria at the Soccer Temple, Agege Stadium where Nigeria won 1-0.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the minister was on hand to cheer the Falcons in their quest to grab the ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Dare, impressed with the win against the hard fighting Algerians, said his administration would look into how the abandoned sporting facilities across the country could be put to use.

“I have said before, one of the cardinal focus of my administration will be to bring back our stadia back to life.

“Particularly, the Abuja National Stadium, Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, Obafemi Awolowo, formerly Liberty Stadium, Ibadan and National Stadium, Surulere.

“We are going to look into how we can develop a business model around them; we will look at a concession through Public Private Partnership (PPP).

“Next week, I will be in Lagos to see the governor and we will take a tour and inspection of the facility and see what can be done.”

Dare said that the proposed bid to host the U-20 Women World Cup would be given priority by the administration.

“Last week I was in Kaduna to look at the Ahmadu Bello stadium. The inspection team from FIFA was here about two weeks ago.

“We know that in September in Zurich, FIFA will be looking at taking final decision to pick the host for the U-20 Women World Cup.

“I hope to be in Zurich to see the FIFA president as part  of our diplomacy; ultimately, Nigeria will host the tournament because we have the facilities and we are putting them for upgrade,” he said.

Dare pledged that the sports ministry would henceforth make athletes welfare a top priority in order to encourage them.

“We have a template to develop both the men and women soccer in Nigeria; we are going to provide the best facilities.

“We are also going to look into their welfare to show that they are well paid. We are going to work with the federations to make sure that they have requisite training facilities.

“We will keep our athletes together as a team while their allowances are paid, we want to see to the welfare of our athletes henceforth,” he said.

-NAN