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Bunmi Ogunyale
The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare has lamented the decaying state of the National Stadium, Surulere, just as he promised to put in motion a process of refurbishing the edifice.
Dare, in a chat with newsmen at the weekend said he had embarked on visits to all the sport facilities across the country, with the aim of bringing them back to life.
“The President Muhammadu Buhari administration is conscious of the state of our facilities and it is my responsibility to physically see them and we can take it up from there.
“I have visited the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja. I have also been to Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna and I would be inspecting others stadia.
“So, this would be one of the several inspection that we are going to do on these facilities. We are going to do a report and audits would be done before the actual renovation,” the Minister explained.
Asked if other sports would get similar attention as football, Dare assured that similar priority would be given to other sports, saying so many countries leverage on other sports to win glory at international meet.
“We all know that football is the king of sports, but I promise not to be Minister of football. So, we are going to pay attention on these other sports.
“And to attest to this statement, I was at the Indoor Sports Hall, Swimming Pool, the Media centre and the gymnasium, which is the only section in better state, proceeding to the Main bowl of the National Stadium,” he concluded.
The stadium manager and other officials accompanied the minister on the inspection.
