Follow Us on Google
The Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Sports, Hon Paul Bassey, has called on Nigerians to imbibe the culture of maintaining the nation’s sports facilities. Elder Bassey, a veteran Sports Administrator, Vice President African Clubs Association, CAF and FIFA Match commissioner and one time CAF Media Committee member gave this charge when responding to Sportsville’s nomination of Akwa Ibom sports facilities for award this year.“First, let me thank Sportsville for this honour, we feel elated as a state that our stadium is the only one recognized and approved for CAF and FIFA tournaments.
“That a big footballing country like Nigeria can only boast of one approved stadium by CAF and FIFA where a couple of North African countries and South Africa have at least seven, calls for concern.
“However, credit must go to the quality of governors that Akwa Ibom has had from Governor Godwill Akpabio who built it, to Governor Udom Emmanuel who christened it and now Governor Umo Eno who is maintaining it.
“The key word is maintenance. Governor Akpabio, in awarding the contract to Julius Berger in 2012, went for the best. Governor Udom made sure Julius Berger signed a ten-year maintenance contract, while Governor Umo Eno has kept faith with the maintenance culture.
“Maintaining a stadium of that magnitude does not come cheap, therefore it takes sports loving government like we have had to keep the stadium in that shape 12 years on,” Elder Bassey, one of the most respected voices in Africa Sports explained.
He added that lack of maintenance culture is the bane of Nigerian sports.
“Here in Akwa Ibom State, we take maintenance of our facilities seriously and that is exactly what I am recommending to other states. Let facilities managers come here to see what we are doing and replicate same in their states. We must imbibe maintenance culture in this country if we must make progress in that direction,” he added
Godswill Akpabio Stadium apart, Akwa Ibom boasts credible stadiums in Uyo, Eket and Ikot Ikpene.
The Ibom Sports Academy presently under construction will have state of the art facilities while the iconic Ibom Arise Resort is also fully equipped with Sports infrastructure.
The newly opened Ibom Sports gym is a further testament to the ambition Akwa Ibom has in taking Sports to another level through the creation of a stand alone sports ministry with a veteran sports administrator, Elder Paul Bassey, as pioneer sports commissioner.
In a bid to ensure Nigerian athletes enjoy top most facilities, Sportsville introduced the best facilities award category two years ago, for both governments and private sectors.
This year’s nominees are the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo (govt category) and Eagle Wings Sports Facilities in Utangba, Edo State!
The award ceremony comes up on March 28th under the Chairmanship of Dr Larry Izamoje, the Chairman of Brila Media Group.
