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By: ’Tana Aiyejina
Following what they tagged “the shady deals” behind the concession of the National Stadium, Lagos, some stakeholders and sports enthusiasts have called on the Federal Government to investigate the ongoing process, which they claim is secretive and hasn’t followed due process.
They also urged the FG to instead renovate the sporting arena and put it into good use.
The FG had announced plans to concession the stadium as part of its Public-Private Partnership initiative, but close watchers of the move said it’s been plagued by “dirty politics and racketeering” which they claim has not followed due process.
When our correspondent visited the decaying stadium on Saturday morning, the arena was alive with over 3,000 visitors and athletes alike engaged in various sporting activities from the tennis courts to the swimming pool and the Legacy pitch of the stadium.
Our correspondent learnt they’ve already concluded the stadium bidding process without public knowledge, with their preferred candidate will be announced soon.
Last November, unknown officials took inventory of the facilities inside the stadium, ahead of announcing the takeover of the 51-year-old edifice.
While stakeholders believe the stadium concession can restore the beauty of the moribund sporting monument, they added that for it to work, the modalities for giving out the stadium to the private sector must be done in a credible and transparent manner.
According to them, bidding must be made open and transparent, which they insist hasn’t been the case so far.
“The sports ministry gave out the stadium, albeit piecemeal, to different business operators, with some of them currently operating also interested but have been shunned,” a stakeholder, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The PUNCH.
However, it was learnt that despite all they’ve invested in keeping the arena alive, they’ve all been ignored in the concession process for a preferred candidate.
“They should be carried along too. Through individual efforts, this stadium has managed to remain alive. Why discard these individuals now. They should be carried along so that this exercise would have been seen to follow due process,” a source said.
A former chairman of the Lagos chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, Fred Edoreh, also faulted the bidding process for the stadium concession.
Edoreh said, “In as much as we say that the FG has shown lack of capacity to manage the facility, can we just ride on that justification to have them do the concession in a very secretive manner, in a manner that is not transparent and the people involved unknown?
“We want to bring in new private investors, but some have been there before and have been keeping the place alive, yet they are not part of your concession. If they are not part of it, what happens to them? This calls for serious probe, where are we going, what is the objective?
“Everything is going on so secretively and the new (sports) minister says he has come to carry on from where the old minister stopped. What exactly did they do, where did they do it and who are those involved? Do they have the capacity to manage the stadium? Have they done this before? These are very relevant questions because I think the public should know, it’s our asset. Power is good, yes they are in power, but at least they are reporting to the people. We are at a loss at what’s happening?”
An athlete, who spoke with our correspondent on Saturday, said they had been alerted about plans by the favoured bidder to turn the stadium to a housing estate.
“They should tell us the plans of those who are bidding for the place. It will end up an effort in futility if they eventually turn the stadium to a housing estate, as we hear. The stadium is a sporting monument and anybody who wants it concessioned to him must show us his plans to ensure sporting activities continue inside the edifice.”