Renaming of Abuja National Stadium a progress, unveiling of same not a major progress

August 21, 2019 the commander in chief- in heaven whose tenure is ‘Everlasting’, gave the Ministry of Youth and Sports a new Angel, by name, Mr Sunday Akindare, the current minister of Sports industry and Youth sector in Nigeria. This from my episodic memory, should be on a Wednesday and I was part of the few journalists who received him at the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sport in Abuja.

It was indeed a very brief event but meaningful I must confess; whilst some journalists were expecting Mr Dare to make a political statement, but I wasn’t expecting that due to his intimidating curriculum vitae, which I meticulously checked and found out his reached background as a veteran journalist, who had touch of analogue and has evolved since the arrival of global – digitalization as media is now digitalized.

On this day, I knew the two Ministries in one, would have a new direction and unique facade(s) that should endear everyone (Investors) to them. Mr Dare’s aura created an accommodating atmospheric condition(s) which enabled everyone that was present when he assumed office same day of his inauguration by Mr President- to be entranced by the contents of his inaugural speech and the ‘unsullied’ white attire (Agbada) he put on.

Honorable Minister, Mr Dare didn’t make the usual statement that might put him in unnecessary troubles but from what I deduced in his speech, he knew Sports and Youth ministry remotely with its crisis respectively. Sufficient to say, he’s a sentient being. 

The above account(s) were extracted from my episodic memory and it’s important to address the subject matter(s) of this piece.

Moshood Abiola National Stadium, ‘A Progess’:

I have been following the minister’s events very closely and from afar, as a trained journalist. Off the top of my head, around November, 2019, the Minister gave everyone goosebumps when he made a progressive statement about the resurrection of former Abuja National Stadium now Moshood Abiola National Stadium. 

According to him; “Already we have gotten Dangote, I can say that he has agreed to bring back the Abuja football pitch, the light and scoreboard. Work will start in another one week or two weeks,” said Dare.

While this landed on my skin very well, to some blabbing minorities (Stakeholders) in Sports and Youth, the Minister was grandstanding – Oh, blimey!!! Anyways, I wasn’t utterly surprised because we are in a terribly configured society which handed a contraption called Sports to Mr Sunday Dare.

National Stadium has been in a terrible state closed to six years as I don’t want to over stretch the truths herein and having a National Stadium that was built with citizens’ taxpayers money in such a repulsuve state, has been a testament to our horrible maintenance culture as a result of willful delinquency from our leaders at all levels in Nigeria. A stadium that was opened with pomp and splendor years back, when the Super Eagles played the Brazilian national team during the reigns of Ronadinho and host of them; is now a place where herders organise event for their sheep and goat. Also, a business enterprise for reptiles, shelter for the homeless and not to bore you all, some animals in Human skin (Nigerians) believe it’s meet to plaster MKO Abiola Stadium with their defecation, these are people with asinine thoughts. 

Of a truth, the Minister is making strong efforts to change the facets of MKO Abiola National Stadium. I had wanted berating the Honorable Minister concerning the aspects, Nigeria and African richest man, Aliko Dangote agreed to touch in the stadium but I didn’t allow my emotion to override my discernment hence, I remembered a saying ‘Just begin’. 

If Dangote can take care of the football pitch, which is very significant, and the scoreboard, that I believe is the siamese twin of the entire football edifice wouldn’t be a bad idea because the richest man wasn’t the one responsible for the unattractive and annoying state of the national stadium. We shouldn’t forget, he was bespoke to rescue the stadium since former Ministers felt unconcerned about the disgusting state of MKO Abiola national stadium. When the man who is financially ‘giant’ in Nigeria decided to do something meaningful about our national asset, I expected other business moguls  to follow his footsteps but I have not heard of any other big announcement regarding that, apart from the further announcement of Ogun State born business man, Chief Keshinton Adebutu (Baba Ijebu) that was proposed to renovate the Lagos National Stadium. Since the announcement in Lagos some months back, we have not heard of any progress concerning the project.

We are in a country where the government doesn’t really value Sports, so life goes on. Only God, knows how long it took Honorable minister- Sunday Dare to convince the richest man as he committed himself into the rehabilitation project of national stadium, this I must say, gladdened my heart. in a nutshell, remaining of the stadium and its rehabilitation by you, would ultimately be regarded as a major Success in your reign as minister of Sports industry and youth sector.

Unveiling of National Stadium not a major Progress:

On the 4th of June, 2020, Honorable Minister was interviewed about his journey so far in the Sport industry and Youth sector, but when he responded to the delay in  beautifying the national stadium, he said;

“We were on the verge of completing the documentation process, review, contracting process for the rehabilitation of Moshood Abiola stadium before the novel Covid 19 struck. We had to shut down the whole country, a global shutdown as the case may be.

“Remember, It’s a private investment, private support from Alhaji Dangote’s company and they have to go through a lot of processes, they have to invite up to eight different contractors; They have to visit the stadium, they have to turn in their bill of quantity and they have to sit on a review board,” he disclosed.

Now, why proceeded to unveil a stadium that has been botchedly managed before this administration? An environment which your predecessors from 2014 unabashedly supervised is now being unveiled by the number one citizen of this country, in its sickening and dilapidated condition. My Honorable Minister, I won’t edit the truths because a man like me loves the bitter truths, and I want you to succeed.

The unveiling of National Stadium should have been done, perhaps, when your promise to rehabilitate it comes to fruition, especifically if the pitch and scoreboard have new looks. I’m scruple to believe Mr President’s representative, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Mallam Musa Bello take a walk inside the key areas of that stadium, if that was done, the odious nature of this stadium would have asphyxiated him and his entourage. 

You are a journalist cum politican but everything shouldn’t be about politics alone, for sports is not really favored in our sociopolitical discurse, but you are trying to market it and that’s very impressive. What you unveiled is somewhat beautiful from the entrance but obviously ugly internally. In football, that’s an ‘Own goal’, from guttersnipe community ‘ You are not doing well ‘. More realistically, commissioning Moshood Abiola National Stadium, on June 12, 2020  with the current condition in such a commemorative event of that magnitude to me is not a fillip to sports development and a few stakeholders shared my view. Must the stadium be commissioned this year?

Rein the cultist nature of your media Team:

From history, I knew how important a town crier was for the old Oyo empire. A town crier is now the Mass media we have today, which you and I are part of. Sincerely, your team is a composite of veterans and new media journalists, and they have been doing well in reaching out to people on your activities in this sports industry and youth sector. I understood that, when a man’s position changes, his retinue will automatically change. I am a trained journalist who belong to Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, Abuja chapter. We love you not because you are a Minister but a renowned journalist who understands the significant of media.

Your media aides are creating problems for your office, and it won’t be nice to have issues with SWAN. Your team is sowing a terrible wind in terms of relationship and carrying sports writers along in your activities and if care is not taken, the whirlwind can destroy what you are building painstakingly in our systems and your political career. 

SWAN’s unhappiness with your media team are inter Alia:

  1. Invitation only to very few members of the association in the last six months. 
  2. Preference for press releases alone.
  3. One of your highfalutin staffers said, Sports writers association is a composite of ” Nescients”
  4. Total disrespect to our Executives headed by Mr Ndubueze Chidioka
  5. In recent times, perhaps due to novel coronavirus, they have been sending some of these releases very late. The most recent one, is the unveiling of National Stadium as nobody in the association got invitation, in fact, someone who works for Channels Television found his way to the venue and was told, no invite was extended to him and later they sent him press release. 

My Honorable Minister of Youth and Sports, you should please interject in the existing cold war between your media team and SWAN members. I remember your therapeutic message to media.

“We should take sports out of the back pages to the front pages with positive news,” Dare on 21st of August, 2019.

I need your Fatherly role in this because the pen is mightier than sword; in addition, you are one of the intellectuals that can steady the cockpit of Sports. This is not a way to cozy up with you, or a syrupy. You are a ‘welfarist’ and I will talk about it subsequently in my article, ‘The bitter truths’ and for now, I urge you to bask in the glow of hooray, encomiums, and kumbaya that greeted your appointment last year in many quarters .

However, be careful and prepared for acerbic criticism, cynicism and scepticism which your office attracts in the same industry. 

My Salvo:
Unveiling a national stadium without proper rehabilitation is the height of Deception.

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