Minister of Youth & Sports Development Sunday Dare has yet reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government at restoring life back to the Surulere National Stadium in Lagos just as it did with the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja.
Dare said on Tuesday that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is committed to bring back the lost glory of the sports arena, adding the on-going rehabilitation was part of his Public-Private Partnership model on infrastructures across the country.
The Adopt-a-Sports-facility initiative under the model brought back the National Stadium in Abuja which has been fully revived after 11 years of neglect.
Dare said: “Lagos National Stadium is a place many of our football legends made us proud in the past and it is sad that over 19 years, it has been abandoned.
“We are proud that after the success recorded with the Moshood Abiola Stadium courtesy of the assistance from Aliko Dangote Group, Lagos national Stadium will also be back in style with the support of Chief Adebutu Kessington. It has not been easy but we did that of Abuja and will do it also in Lagos.
“We gave the two of them ( Dangote and Kessington) what we needed to fix and they bought all the equipment themselves but we gave them the standard we wanted. It took Dangote nine months to buy all that we needed for Abuja while Kessington spent seven months. We are indeed grateful to them.
“It seemed impossible in the past decades but now the two national stadia are being fixed under two years. For the Buhari regime, this is massive.”
The Minister noted that there were still critical areas to be handled at the Surulere national Stadium.
“The flood lights are being fixed and we have to restore the armoured cables vandalized. There is a need for a modern control room while the public water system has to function very well. We are also working on the spectators stand and the terraces
“A total of 25 Solar Street lights have been fixed at the stadium which has been in total blackout for close to 20 years.”
Dare expressed optimism that the Lagos National Stadium will host international games later in the year.
