By Okey Chris Awka
Th e Anambra State House of Assembly has bemoaned over the unavailability of functional sports stadia in the state. Th e lawmakers, who added that Awka is the only state capital territory in Nigeria without a functional sports stadium, urged Governor Willie Obiano to direct Anambra State Commissioner for Youth Empowerment and Sports Development to order the contractor handling the onstruction of Awka Mini Stadium back to site to complete the work on the stadium for onward commissioning.’
Th is was followed by a motion sponsored by member representing Awka South Constituency I in the State House of Assembly, Hon. Pharm. (Dr) Nnamdi Okafor and 29 other members, which revealed that the contract for construction of the Awka Mini Stadium was awarded fi ve years ago, but no appreciable work was done at the site before the contractor abandoned the work. Okafor, while presenting the motion, also noted that Awka has three sports stadia namely, Awka Mini stadium, FIFA stadium, and other, but according to him, none is working. Contributing, Hon.
Ikem Uzoezie, Uche Okafor, and others explained that football is a major unifying factor and great entertainment that promotes good health and wellbeing of the people, even as they regretted that the state is presently without functional stadium that would off er opportunities to footballers and other sports players to train, showcase their talents, be discovered and have the opportunity to advance to a high income earning professional level. “A functional stadium has multiplier eff ect and comes with several invisible gains in addition to boosting the quality of life of the sportsman. It also promotes the image of the state capital and encourages tourism.
Th is stadium when completed and put to use, would create jobs, boost businesses, and help attract professional football team to the state capital that would in turn, increase the tax revenue of the state” Okafor added. Expatiating on the dire need for a functional stadium in the capital city, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Rita Maduagwu, called on Gov. Obiano to do the needful and ensure that the Awka Mini Stadium is completed as soon as possible.
