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Quit order on National Stadium squatters

National Stadium

THE Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports is set to implement the removal of squatters from the nation’s stadia, especially in Lagos and Abuja. The Minister, Sunday Dare, has never hidden his determination to restore the lost glories of federal stadiums.

The ministry’s delegations have serially inspected the National Stadium, Lagos, perhaps with a view to involving the Lagos State Government in efforts to give it a face-lift. The latest such effort led by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Gabriel Aduda, gave the squatters a final quit notice.

All structures, except those originally built in 1961 and renovated in 1973 for the All Africa Games, are set to be removed. The only exceptions are the Nigerian Olympic Committee, NOC, and the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN, buildings.

The rest, including the structures built by Ojez, Old Skool and the various sports equipment shops built by individuals, will go. The same applies to theNational Stadium Abuja where those who planted crops have been asked to harvest them.

Of course, the plan to rehabilitate the long-abandoned stadia is cheery news, especially if carried out to the letter and not abandoned halfway. Our sports development has suffered great setbacks as a result of the abandonment of these expensive national edifices.

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Our concern, however, is the fate of the squatters who have been summarily asked to leave. The national stadiums which were abandoned for upward of 30 years fell to great decrepitude. They became hideouts for criminals, drug addicts, physically-challenged and homeless people, area boys and other undesirable elements. Nigerian government’s typical inability to maintain its own assets was fully manifest in the neglect of these stadiums.

The stadium authorities gradually permitted private commercial operators to set up their businesses within these complexes to reinject useful human activities within them. These squatters were duly given government permits to set up their structures and they paid annual tenancy fees to the authorities. The operators made huge investments and converted these stadiums into bubbling recreational centres during the day and night.

Now that the government has decided to send away the squatters, they must be adequately compensated. These are law-abiding, patriotic Nigerian citizens who are struggling to earn a livelihood. They should not just be so callously treated. Government must have a human face. Officials must act with love and consideration towards the people whom they are serving.

The Federal Ministry of Sports must financially compensate them to enable them relocate their businesses with minimum stress. They should also be factored into whatever new plans that government is perfecting since sports shops are necessary parts of sports complexes all over the world.

The stadiums’ renovation should not become a source of pain for those who invested in their upkeep while government was asleep.

VANGUARD

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