The Chairman of the Federal Capital Territory Football Association, Alhaji Musa Talle, has expressed concern over the FCT Administration’s decision to demolish a portion of the Area 3 Sports Complex.
The Minister of State for FCT, Ms. Olajumoke Akinjide, said two weeks ago that part of the sport complex football pitch would give way for a road.
Talle told the News Agency of Nigeria in an interview in Abuja on Monday that demolishing a portion of the football pitch would amount to a waste of the resources invested in building it.
He recalled that the Federal Capital Development Authority, which has the Abuja Master Plan, gave the permission for the construction of the pitch.
“I think the FCDA has the master-plan of the city. It is supposed to know that a road would pass through there and yet gave the go-head for the building of the pitch.
“I don’t know the type of road the Minister of state is talking about, but the information I heard earlier was that the football field was not supposed to be in that particular area.
“Our discussion earlier with the FCT Director of Sports was that they should leave the pitch as it is and think of how to make the necessary adjustments within the complex, which was not built for football alone,” Talle said.
He, however, said that the decision to cancel the privatisation of the sports centres in the territory was a welcomed development.
The FCT FA boss noted that sporting facilities in the territory had been abandoned for about 10 years and expressed the hope that the authorities would fulfill their pledge to upgrade them.
“By NFA standard, the Area 3 football pitch is not supposed to be hosting matches due to lack of amenities.
“For 10 years now, we have been hearing that the Area 3 Sports Centre was given to a contractor and he has been promising to invest in the place, but up till now he has not done anything.
“We had wanted to do one or two things there at our level, but we were not allowed to do so since the place has been given out to a private manager.
“The field belongs to him, he is the only person that can add or remove anything there. So, our hands were tied,” he said.
When Akinjide inspected sports facilities in the FCT a fortnight ago, she reiterated the administration’s determination to upgrade dilapidated structures at the sports centres.
The FCT chapter of the Sportswriters Association of Nigeria had in August drawn the attention of the FCT administration to the decaying sports facilities and dwindling fortunes of sports in the territory.