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…Insists hosting not Nigeria’s priority
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The plans for Nigeria to bid for the hosting of 2027 Africa Nations Cup (AFCON) may have suffered fresh setback following the rejection of it by the chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Hon Ekene Adams.
The Kaduna State born lawmaker hinged his rejection of the planned bid on the claims that it is not the current priority of the country to host major championships like AFCON.
He also argued that though it will attract good things to the country, however hosting AFCON is certainly not what the country currently needs.
In a statement he personally signed, Hon Adams noted: “We are not kicking against bidding for the Nations Cup, but I am against the timing of such step in relation to our current economic realities which every one of us is not ignorant of.
“As someone who has the fear of God, I can tell you for free that talking about hosting the Nations Cup entails building new facilities, and renovating stadiums but all of these things are only beneficiary to the stakeholders and politicians to make more money.
“I don’t think we mean well for the common man if this is our current priority as a government. The common man can hardly feed three times a day with the effect of the subsidy and it will not be good to hide under the disguise of sports and things like this to enrich ourselves at the expense of Nigerians.
“For example, the palliatives the National Assembly approved for Nigerians to cushion the effect of the subsidy hardship has not gotten to Nigerians across the country and the only thing the stakeholders are concerned about is wanting to host the AFCON.
“And after spending so much money to host AFCON, we will then leave the facilities delapidated as usual and lack of maintenance will continue which another government will come again to spend so much on and nothing meaningful would have changed,” he argued in the statement.
While commenting further, Hon Adams noted: “As a lawmaker representing the people I must also stress that I am an apostle of good change and will not support anything I know will not benefit the common man.”
Nigeria and Benin Republic are presenting a joint bid to host the 2027 AFCON and the Minister of Sports, John Enoh will be attending CAF Executive meeting in Cairo, Egypt, for this purpose on Wednesday.
