NSC Needs N75m to Re grass Abuja Stadium

Mainbowl of the Abuja National Stadium

Lawmakers from the House of Representatives could not hide their disgust Wednesday at the kick off of oversight tour of sports facilities, when the manager of the National Stadium, Abuja said N75 million was required to re-grass the bumpy pitch.

From Wednesday’s tour, it can be gleaned that Abuja is no longer in position to host the string of international engagements lined up for the year, including the Nigeria versus Brazil friendly and Arsenal’s summer tour of Nigeria.

What is now left of the usually lush pitch is a scary patch of burnt grass on a heap of sand.

The Stadium Manager, Katsman Dungese, told members of the House Sports Committee that the pitch turned brown as water could not be pumped to wet the grass due to no power supply to the stadium.

THISDAY had reported on Monday that miscreants had in November last year vandalized the underground cables that connected the stadium to the main national power grid.

Dungese said they were hamstrung by money as only N41million was budgeted in the year for the maintenance of the stadium. He said they receive every month a N35 million bill from the water corporation.

He also said the total budget for the maintenance of the six government owned stadia is N250 million.

Members of the Sports Committee, led by Hon Godfrey Ali Gaiya, were taken to the spot near the Games Village, Durumi, where the thieves excavated for about a stretch of 1 km and vandalized six cable lines valued at N35million.

The committee similarly paid a visit to the Games Villages Hostel which has now been converted into a three star- hotel.

Contractors stopped work on the 200-room hostel in 2010 after N800 million had been released for the project. The cost of the project is put at N1.7billion.

The committee similarly toured the Olympic sized swimming pool and the secretariat of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA).

The swimming pool, built for the All Africa Games in 2003, is left with stagnant water and human waste, while most of the seats have craved in and are in need of replacement.

Lawmakers were alarmed when NSC officials said there were no cleaners and security guards attached to the place because funds were not provided for such.