By Muhyideen Jimoh
Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has charged the contractor handling the rehabilitation of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja to complete work by June.
The minister gave the charge on Friday in Abuja after an inspection tour of on-going work at the facility.
Dare, who expressed satisfaction with the quality of work at the stadium, however, stressed the need to fast track the pace of work.
I am satisfied with the progress so far, the delivery date is now June.
There are technologies attached to football pitches like this, when you see standard pitches, it is not just about the sand and grasses, but there are underbellies of technologies like the water sprinklers, among others.
We are trying to get things right so that with proper maintenance, we wont be drawn back to it for another 10 years, he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Adeniji Adesoji, Executive Director, ARON Nigeria Ltd, the contractor handling the project, had on Monday pledged to conclude the project by May after some delay.
The rehabilitation of the stadium is being handled by Alhaji Aliko Dangote through the Federal Governments Adopt a Pitch initiative.
The minister also used the inspection to give an update on Team Nigerias preparation towards the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
We are done with the National Sports Festival, now as a country and a Ministry, our eyes are on the Olympics for which we have started a 100 days countdown.
In another seven to 10 days the camps will be opened in Lagos, Port Harcourt , probably Delta and Florida where we have most of our relay team athletes.
From there other members of the team will be joining them and possibly we will have another camp in Europe, he said.
Dare maintained that preparations for the Olympics never stopped even with the effect of COVID-19 and preparations for the just concluded National Sports Festival (NSF).
We will try to maintain a 60 to 70 days camping by doubling the 25-30 days camping we used to have in the past, the minister added. (NAN)
Source: NAN News