Dare Says Sports Industry Policy Will Erase Abandonment of Sporting Infrastructure

Sunday Dare, Minister of Youth and Sports Development says the new the reclassification of sports from recreation to business as contained in the Sports Industry Policy will ensure our sporting infrastructures will never suffer any neglect again.

“With the incentives that have been approved by the federal executive council kicking in shortly, we will be able to leverage on private sector financing of stadium and other infrastructure”.

He added, “The Sports Minister said this last weekend after inspecting renovation work at the National stadium in Surulere, Lagos.

The stadium, built some 51 years ago has been abandoned to rot away for almost 23 years with most of the critical infrastructure either stolen or are in a state of disrepair.

He continued, “Standard years for a stadium before major renovations is 30 years. Surulere National Stadium is 51 years old. Left unmaintained for 23 years.

“Sports as business and the enactment of the Sports Industry Policy will be a major achievement under me as Sports Minister.” Dare said.

The Minister chose the road avoided by previous Ministers by making the bold move to rehabilitate Nigeria’s major sporting infrastructures. ‘

“A lot of people supported me for starting the journey to renovating the National stadium in Lagos, Abuja and Ibadan. Yes, it was a bold move in the face of dwindling government revenue and we had to think of an alternative way of starting it. I can understand why the place has been abandoned for years. The cost of renovating stadiums all over the world is enormous. The Santiago Bernabue stadium in Madrid is estimated to cost $700m US dollars while a 15,000 capacity Maldives stadium will cost $25m. The estimate we got for National stadium in Lagos is $41m.

Which is about 21 billion naira.

How much did it cost to rebuild Wembley Stadium? The stadium was built by Australian firm Multiplex at a cost of £798 million (£1.27 billion today). Two partially retractable roof structures over the east and west ends of the stadium can be opened to allow sunlight and aid pitch growth.

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, with building started in 2013 and finally completed six years later in 2019.

The Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur opened a brand new state-of-the-art, 61,000 seat stadium. The project cost an astronomical $1.4 billion.

“We wanted 10 sponsors to take up different sections of the stadium but only chief Kessigton Adebutu hearkened to our call,’

The adopt initiative since he was appointed Sports Minister in 2019 has yielded immeasurable dividends.

Dare says with the reclassification of sports a business backed by the Sports Industry Policy, our sporting infrastructures will be maintained for the greater good of all Nigerians, especially our youths.’.

Dare also revealed he has not just stopped at the reclassification and the enactment of the Sports Industry Policy. ‘

We have also looked at other means of getting the infrastructures fixed and have approached the Nigerian Sovereign Wea..NSIA. We have almost concluded on this and it will be presented to council soon.’.

Dare hopes history will remember him as a sports minister who took the bull by the horn to challenge these elephants in our rooms. ‘ I want to stay a special thank you to Alhaji Aliko Dangote who came in for us and the youths of Nigeria by fixing the Moshood Abiola stadium. Julius Berger who constructed the stadium submitted a bill of N1.2b yearly as maintenance cost. That amount will be close to N5b in 2023.

“I also want to thank chief Adebutu for his efforts which have seen 80% of the mainbowl pitch and tartan track done. The digital scoreboard is fully functional now.

Baba ijebu has released about 420 million naira so far as CSR and it is commendable.

The journey has started and the National stadium in Lagos will be restored to its original design if we get the funds needed.