After successfully restoring life back to the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja, the Federal Government is set to do the same for the National Stadium Lagos.
Minister of Sports Sunday Dare on Monday says that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was committed to bring back the lost glory of the sports arena.
Dare stressed that the ongoing 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 National Stadium courtesy of the assistance from Aliyu Dangote Group, Lagos National Stadium will also be back in style with the support from 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 National Stadium Lagos.
“The flood lights are being fixed and we have to restore the armored 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 National Stadium Lagos will host international games later in the year.
