Stakeholders petition ministry over ‘secret’ concessioning of Lagos National Stadium

Sports Minister, Sunday Dare walked past fallen floodlight mast at National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.PIX: NAN

Worried by an alleged secret concessioning of the National Stadium, Lagos, to an unnamed businessman, some of the shop owners and other tenants at the facility have taken their case to Sports Minister, John Owan Enoh, urging the minister to investigate the conduct of the exercise.

Yesterday at the National Stadium, some of the stakeholders told a group of journalists that they were waiting for the kickoff of the bidding process for the partnership with the Federal Government on the stadium, as they were earlier informed, only to hear that the edifice has already been ceded to a particular investor.

The National Stadium was shut down by former Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, when it became obvious that the adopt-a-facility programme of the ministry would not resuscitate the whole of the structure.

Dare muted that the structure would be concessioned to private investors, who would renovate and manage it on behalf of the government. But he could not complete the process before he left office.

On assuming office as new Sports Minister, Enoh, promised he would continue from where his predecessor stopped in the interest of the nation.

Yesterday, some of the stakeholders raised the alarm, claiming that the process for the concessioning, which they said has been almost completed, has not been transparent.

According to one of the stakeholders, who pleaded anonymity, some of the tenants that have invested in resuscitating some parts of the stadium, were not notified or carried along in the exercise.

Speaking on behalf of the stakeholders, he said: “This stadium was left to rot for many years, but some people kept it alive. Some of