The Director-General of Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC), Babatunde Bank-Anthony, has said the government had given approval to upgrade all the community stadia to international standard.
Bank-Anthony made the revelation in an interview with newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos while commenting on the various ongoing works in stadia across the state.
He said the state with a population of about 18 million should afford better sports structures which would be of international standard.
“What we are doing now is to upgrade all our community stadiums to international standard, Campos mini stadium has already be given a facelift, the Isheri community stadium will also be upgraded.
“The Maracanna Stadium in Ajegunle will also be upgraded to meet international standard, these are community stadiums but we believe that a state with a population of 18 million deserves better.
“The stadiums uplift will go round and we will not leave any behind which tells the reason we are presently having a brand new stadium in Onikan and the resurfacing at the Teslim Balogun.
“All what we are doing is to have a state that can boast of good infrastructure for grassroots development of sports which we are already reaping the rewards,’’ he said.
Bank-Anthony said that the state would now concentrate more on the grassroots development of sports, adding that athletes from the state were already making waves across the country and internationally.
“We are concentrating on grassroots development of sports which we think is the basis of sports development. Our athletes are sourced even from the schools.
“The state has been stressing the need for proper source for the national team and the source is the grassroots where the potential athletes are based and this is where we discover them.
“Our stadiums will provide the best facilities for the development of the athletes, international standards for them to grow and become the best.
“We are already reaping the rewards of these investments because some of the swimmers in the state are already making waves.
“Someone like Naomi Oke, a swimmer who represented Nigeria and came with nine gold medals,’’ he said.
NAN
