Concession of National Stadiums in Abuja and Lagos to Private Sector Investors

THE Federal Government on Wednesday announced plans to concession the National Stadiums in Abuja and Lagos to private sector investors as it says it is no longer in the position to fund their maintenance for effective utilisation.

Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdulahi, who presented the progress report of his ministry to a meeting of the Federal Executive Council.  (FEC), told State House correspondents at a briefing that President Goodluck Jonathan has also approved the handing over of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu to the state government.

He said Bauchi State government has similarly applied to take over the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium in Bauchi while other states hosting federal government stadiums have been encouraged to do the same.

“So, we hope that other state governments will also take on other stadia because it is no longer possible for the federal government to continue to maintain these facilities,” he said.

The minister stated that the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) was already working out the framework for concessioning the facilities.

He added: “The ICRC has started advertising projects that could come up under concessioning and they told me that the two stadia , Lagos and Abuja are among the next round of advertising they will do for concessioning.