The Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare has assured Nigerians that the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos will soon be completed to host sporting activities.
In line with his commitment to the early completion of the on-going renovation of Sports infrastructures in the country, the Minister inspected the National Stadium, Surulere on Monday to assess the level of work, with a charge to the contractor to complete the rehabilitation on schedule.
Tidesports source reports that the minister was excited that the scoreboard was now functioning, the pitch re-grassed, while other facilities like the tartan tracks, the VIP lounge, spectators stands among others will soon be completed
“This facility was abandoned for many years,” Dare said during the visit. “The stadium, unlike the Abuja Stadium, had zero maintenance fund for almost 17 years, but we got Chief Adebutu Kesington to bring it back to life.
“The time needed to get it back to life is much longer than what the eyes can see. The underbelly of the pitch had to be excavated, new sprinklers installed because the old ones were either stolen or rotten. The 10 lane tartan tracks are starting from scratch because we listened to expert advice, the scoreboard took longer time to dismantle because it had become obsolete and had to be replaced with a new one.
The decay at the complex has been on for too long.The person funding the work insisted on the right quality and the International standard before work started.”
” It took me a while to come here, but my coming is a validation of the fact that I’m impressed with the level of work that has been done. I hope that very soon we can host events here once we get the place functional. We are going to clear the debris, the grass is being properly maintained and the tracks will soon be laid and we are good to go.” he said.