“Moshood Abiola stadium repair will cost Nigeria N579 million”

Sports minister said funds for the Abiola Stadium repair to be sourced privately

Nigeria’s Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has said that to repair the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Nigeria would have to cough out at least $1.5 million.

The sum translates to about N579 million if converted using the current exchange rate of N386/$1.

The minister, who stated this during a recent inspection tour of the facility, however, said that taxpayers’ funds would not be used in the repair work but that private financing shall be sourced for the repair works.

“It will cost almost $1.5 million private funds to fix the stadium and there are processes in handling such a project. We have to check for the best company that can do it,” Dare told journalists after the inspection.

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“We are in the final stage in which the contractor will be mobilised to site, so I’m calling on Nigerians to be patient. We are carrying out all the necessary procedures before we move to the site, so the pitch will come back very soon.

“You can see that the stadium is functional. I will say 75 to 80 per cent functional. The swimming pool is working, the indoor sports hall is working, 60,000 seats in the stadium are FIFA compliant and the tracks are okay. So, we will get there very soon.

“It is a function of when the pitch is fixed. Every other thing is working. The lights are back, security is back, water is back. What is left is just the football pitch and the floodlights,” he added.

Recall that the former Abuja National Stadium was named after Moshood Abiola by President Muhammadu Buhari in June 2019 to honour Abiola’s contribution to Nigeria’s democracy.

The naming of the stadium after him came after the President signed June 12 as Nigeria’s official Democracy Day.