The Ministry of Youth and Sports has revealed that the inability to maintain the Abuja National stadium stemmed from the N2 billion annual maintenance bill presented by construction giants Julius Berger, Completesportsnigeria.com reports.
Permanent secretary of the ministry Olusade Adesola who disclosed this at a media brief in Abuja said that the recently concluded 19th National Sports Festival afforded the ministry the opportunity to give facelift to many facilities at the complex.
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“Julius Berger submitted a maintenance fee of N2 billion annually and this is more than the ministry’s yearly budget. We cannot afford such money annually, but we are working hard to find alternative ways to keep the place tidy,” Mr. Adesola stated.
“We are looking at the option of concession to individuals and companies who could manage the place for a period. The complex has to be busy with activities keep it in good condition usage.”
He said the just concluded National Sports Festival was a success adding that 42 records were set in weight lifting, 15 in swimming and two in power lifting.
By Richard Jideaka, Abuja
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COMMENTS
ehn….N2bn annually…????
Uncle Solo…..pls give me half of that and i will personally make sure even the rays of the sun does not touch the stadium.
Commercial activity, sponsorship, advertising, consessions, using the facilities will all raise money and you will not need to be waiting for budget allocation to maintain.
For instance, regular football matches, a club can rent the place and use it as it’s “home ground” supporters will pay gate fees and there you are, a weekly income.
A modest fee for members of the public to use the lawn tennis courts, swimming pool and gym will raise revenue or sub let to a leisure company.
Premium brands could rent shops (Adidas, Nike, sports equipment companies and other sporting wares companies, Domino’s pizza, coldstone). The sporting hall rented out for parties when no sporting activities are there.
All this waiting for funds and allocating contracts is making brains dull
My brother….thats hwat you get when you put people who dont think in Government….all assests will be seen as liabilities.All they do is wait for oil money to come from the FG. Afterall, wetin concern agbero with over load. Oga sell oga no sell, alaaru go stipll collect in complete moni. Emirates is paying 10m pounds p/a just to have arsenals’ stadium named after it. Same as Etihad paying to have the city of manchester stadium in whihc man city plays named after it. The soccer city that hosted the 2010 world cup final is currently being named after First National Bank (FNB) in South Africa. The national stadium in abuja can easily be named Dangote stadium, the one in Lagos be named First bank stadium or the one in Uyo named Exxon Mobil stadium if our government officials had common sense. That is what you get when government is run as a business and not as a charity.
it’s so pathetic that we always find ourselves in this sorry state simply because we have the wrong people at helms of affairs. This is the kind of result you get when you have farmers managing the banking sector and bankers doing same in the building industry. wish these bunch of clueless leaders can see all of these and at the same time reachout to the appropiate consultant for appropiate and effective consultation.
Give a solution and stop complaining
You are right bro. They can also lease it out for concerts.
Guys even tourism can help generate money for the stadium.
Tourist can pay a tiny sum to visit the stadium, eat, have a family day out and just take in the ambiance.
They can visit the stadium museum and the actual dugout.
I visited the capital of Norway some years back and took a tour of the stadium that Mikel Obi played before moving to Chelsea.
It was a pretty good experience…..