Sports enthusiasts in Awka, the
Anambra capital, have called on
Gov. Chukwuma Soludo to deliver a
complete stadium with facilities for
all association games.
The enthusiasts made the call as
Soludo commenced work on the
second section of the Awka township
stadium.
They said the Awka township
stadium was the only sporting arena
in the entire capital city and should
be improved upon rather than being
converted to a tourism or leisure
site.
Victor Nwangu, a veteran sports
administrator, said the football pitch
in the Park A section of the stadium,
which currently hosts Nigeria
Professional Football League,
Nationwide League and other
national games, was still incomplete.
Nwangu, an ex-Rangers Int’l, said it
was improper that over 18 months
after the stadium was inaugurated
and approved for Nigeria Football
Federation matches, floodlights,
scoreboard media centre were yet to
be installed.
“I want to thank the government of
Anambra for the Awka township
stadium which has become the
epicentre of football activities in the
state because it is hosting many
national football competitions.
“It is important that all the
standards are maintained so that it
can host international competitions,
these standards, include increasing
sitting capacity from the current
1,000 to a minimum 5,000, we should
have floodlights and conveniences,”
he said.
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Nwangu advised that Park A section
should be brought up to standard
before moving into the B-section as
it may result to abandoning the
progress made and allowing the
installed facilities to decay.
“It is good that the governor is
planning to develop the B section
but let this A section be completed
first because matches will be going
on here and the stadium is not just
about football.
“I expect that there should be a
master plan to build 80 per cent of
about 19 association games we have
in this stadium and then build them
in phases until we have a complete
stadium.
“Amusement and leisure parks are
not association sports, they are
recreational facilities which are
provided for in the master plans of
cities and communities, stadium is
solely for sports,” he said.
Also speaking, Tony Nezianya, a
veteran sports journalist, said
overflow of the existing grandstand
at Awka township stadium during
Rangers Int’l matches was an
indication that sports was becoming
popular among residents.
Nezianya, the current Public
Relations Officer of the Nigeria
Olympic Committee (NOC), said
Soludo should take advantage of the
growing spirit of sports in Anambra
to build a sports economy.
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He said Anambra was a major player
in the athletes supply chain in
Nigeria and should not be confined
to a stadium that served a mono-
sports purpose.
“There is a functional stadium in
Awka but the pavilion is no longer
adequate, there is an immediate
need to expand it and install other
facilities including those of other
sports to make it a stadium.
“Floodlights are very critical now
because most events take place at
night when people are back from
work and are ready to relax with
live games, they are also very good
for security purposes.
“I do not want to believe that they
are planning to build anything other
than facilities for competitive sports
there, it will not be in the best
interest of the masses,” he said.
Nezianya described sports as a
multi-million dollar business and
money spinner which could lift
athletes and their families from
penury to affluence.
According to him, “we have to create
opportunities for our youths, we to
have nurture and export more
athletes and the state has a lot to
benefit from such investments.
“The government should build a
standard track there, we expect a
cricket oval, basketball, tennis,
volleyball, tennis courts, indoor
sports hall and others,” he said.
In the same vein, the Sports Writers
Association of Nigeria (SWAN),
Anambra chapter, while
commending Soludo for resuming
work at the Awka stadium, opposed
the idea of converting it to an
amusement and leisure park.
Anthony Oji, the chairman of SWAN
in the state, described the move as
an attempt to render the teaming
Anambra athletes and the entire
sporting community homeless.
He said the stadium was for sports
and there was much left to be done
to make the Awka stadium a sports
arena befitting a state that had rich
tradition in sports like Anambra.
“I know we have a listening
governor who loves sports, the plan
to develop the entire stadium is
good, our appeal is that he should
defend the sanctity of that stadium
as a sporting arena.
“
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He should build sports
infrastructure such that Anambra
can host national competitions and
festivals, converting that place to
leisure parks will amount to
banishing sports from the state,” he
said.
In a reaction, Christian Aburime,
Press Secretary to Soludo, said the
governor was not converting the
stadium to a leisure park.
Aburime said only the vast
undeveloped area within the
stadium would be used for the
recreational park which was meant
to create tourism ambience in Awka.
According to him, the government is
trying to build a megacity with a
good tourism facilities, so that
residents and visitors can have a
place to go and relax.
“Governor is not converting the
stadium to an amusement park, the
stadium remains as it is,” he said.
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