The quest of most users of the National Stadium in Lagos to return to their usual activities met a brick wall as the old edify remained closed on the order of the Minister for Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare.
According to ThisDay newspapers, the 48-year old Sports Complex had witnessed its first major closure since it was commissioned in 1972 for the 2nd African Games hosted by Nigeria due to Covid-19 ravaging the human race on the face of the earth.
The Federal Government on the 22nd of March 2020 announced lockdown of major areas including Lagos and the follow up was the directive from the Sports Ministry that all its complex nationwide is closed till a suitable date.
But following the relax of the lockdown and subsequent guidelines released by the Governor of Lagos State Babajide Sanwo-Olu over the weekend, sportsmen and women, fun seekers and other regular visitors to the arena met a brick wall as the gates leading to the complex remained closed even to the staff of the Ministry.
THISDAY checks on Monday gathered that the Ministry officials are acting on the order of the Sports Minister and same thing applied to other stadiums in all the geo-political zones.
But due to the six-week lockdown, the abandoned complex had gone from bad to worse and overgrown by weeds and very untidy for habitat. But officials of the ministry engaged a private firm to help fumigate the entire complex to avoid another epidemic after the lockdown.
“The stadium, for now, cannot be opened to visitors and staff of the ministry because of the situation we have at hand now. We are aware that a lot of people visit the complex for different reasons but in a situation that it may be difficult to control most of the activities was the main reason why it will remain closed for now.
“Last Saturday, we have ensured that the entire arena was fumigated so that when normalcy resumes, we won’t be challenged for any form of health hazard and we want to plead with those with legitimate reasons for usage to the stadium to bear with the authority, “a top official of the ministry explained to THISDAY yesterday.
Aside from the staff of the Sports Ministry and National Institute for Sports (NIS), complex on a daily basis also plays host to individuals in both the corporate world and downtrodden to seek survival with daily activities.
While the corporate class usually come in after office hours to unwind and expand their contacts in various businesses, the arena also accommodates artisans, area boys, vehicles learners, jogger outfits, petty traders, chorographers and sportsmen and women for their daily routine.
“If the situation improves after this partial lockdown, the complex could be opened for legitimate users because the government also wants to enforce strict usage of the stadium while awaiting total renovation and takeover.
“For now nobody is allowed in the stadium and anyone or group of people found within and arrested could face the charges of vandalism,” the official explained.
However, some of the visitors who made frantic efforts to gain access yesterday are those whose either abandoned their vehicles due to mechanical faults and hoped that the lockdown will not last much and the store owners whose fear were towards vandals and not sure of what they may have lost all through the lockout.
ThisDay
