Sunday Dare, Nigeria’s Minister of Youth and Sports Development, has revealed plans to upgrade four of the country’s major stadia.
Dare this week visited Kaduna’s 16,000-seat Ahmadu Bello Stadium ahead of next year’s FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Nigeria.
Nigerian newspaper Vanguard reported that Dare has plans to upgrade the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, along with the Lagos National Stadium, Ibadan’s Obafemi Awolowo Stadium and the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu to meet a “global standard”.
Dare said: “Our focus is on the upgrade, management and maintenance of the facilities. We are working on a business model that would be enticing to investors and facility managers. Our approach will be a public-private partnership venture.”
He added: “We will be meeting with the sports commissioners of all the states, sports federations and the sports ambassadors for their input on how best to achieve sports development in the country.
“We will remind the federations of their responsibilities. We will not reinvent it all, we are going to look at what worked and what has not. We will be bold in taking initiatives to turn sports around.”
The Lagos National Stadium (pictured) opened in 1972 but has fallen into disrepair and has not hosted Nigeria’s national football team since 2004.
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