NSC battles to revamp Abuja stadium (Another avenue to steal money)

Posted by admin Headlines, Soccer, Sports, Track & Field Monday, April 23rd, 2012

Full sporting activities would soon return to the Main Bowl of the National Stadium, Abuja following last weekend’s restoration of electricity supply after six months blackout, and resumption of work to resuscitate the dead grass with the application of fertilizers and chemicals.

Stadium manager, Arch Katmwam Dunse, who made the disclosure when Daily Sun Sports visited the stadium yesterday, said that the Power Holding Company (PHCN) finally restored supply at the edifice at exactly 2.00pm on Saturday, emphasising that with the restoration of the light, every other activities such as watering the pitch would resume immediately.

Giving an update on the deplorable situation of the stadium that received the lashing and bashing of the House of Representative Committee on Sports members recently, Arch Katmwam, however, noted that despite the return of life to the stadium, he couldn’t guarantee how soon full sporting activities would resume at the stadium.
“The update on the situation is that you recall that a few weeks ago, I told the world before and during inspection by the National Assembly that the National Stadium, Abuja had been in blackout since November last year.
The good news is that we have been reconnected and linked up to the national grid at exactly 2.00pm Saturday last weekend.

“As I speak with you now, the National Stadium is back to life with the restoration of the electricity power supply. Second, you know that the blackout stopped other things like water supply, so with the restoration, we can now pump water and start work on the pitch to see if the dead grass could come back to life,” he noted.
On how much it cost the National Sports Commission (NSC) to restore the light, he said: “Don’t forget that it was the PHCN that told us that it would take about N35 million to fix the light. So, the PHCN should be in the best position to tell Nigerians how much it cost them to restore us.

“The process of restoring the light was not dependent on Commission. It was the statutory responsibility of the PHCN to restore the light and they have done that. I’m not the best position to comment or disclose how much it cost them to fix the light. The financial assistance we gave to PHCN is not for the media or public consumption.

Commenting on re-grassing the pitch of the main bowl, the stadium manager said: “The truth is that the grass is still in a bad state but thank God, we are back with PHCN and now we can pump water. They say that water is life and if the water will bring life to the grass, I will be the happiest person, but all I can tell you is that we are working on it.

“We will put in our best but there are two options to it. Although technically the grass is dead, we are relying on the theory that water would revive the grass. We are equally applying fertilizer and chemicals to resuscitate the grass.
“If after taking the measures of watering and applying fertilizer and chemical, and the grass fails to come back to life, the commission would do a complete regrassing.

of the entire pitch as the last option.

The situation is that we will apply the first option for three weeks and see the results to know if we can continue or adopt the second option,” he noted.
Asked how long it would take the stadium to host a match, Arch Katmwam, said: “To be very frank, the state of the stadium is not the type any right-thinking person can promise the length of time the stadium can host a match. As I said earlier, I have to see the result of the three weeks first measure we adopted before giving a categorical promise on how soon we can host a match. If within the next three weeks become fruitful, it would be easier to give time line. But if it involves re-grassing, it will take a longer time.”

-Sunwp_posts