Dare bemoans paltry budget allocation for sports facility maintenance

The minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has bemoaned the budget allocation for sports facility maintenance.

He made this known on his Twitter handle while stating that the ministry under his watch has secured N80bn for sports development and N60bn for youth development.

“Sports as business policy firms up the earlier reclassification of Sports from mere recreation to business. It is based on three triggers: Infrastructure, incentives and investments. The 10 per cent budgeted for sports facility maintenance not Infrastructure is grossly low.

“Under the new National Development Plan 2021-2025 approved in 2022, we have secured 80 billion naira for Sports Devpt and 60 billion for Youth Development.

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“In total, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) allocated N140 billion to Youth and Sports development in the next 3 years. We delivered the Sports as Business Policy, first of its kind approved in November 2022.

“With a business model design & the approved govt incentives are expected to attract 55 to 65 per cent private sector funding into sports development, especially infrastructure,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dare has stated why it has remained a massive difficulty to totally repair the National Stadium Surulere in Lagos.

Speaking to journalists on Friday during an inspection of the National Stadium, Dare stated that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to entirely repair the Stadium’s 18-year rot in two years, especially because just a fraction of the money needed to pay the project has been raised.

“The rot started 18 years before I became a minister. In two and a half years, I’ve started a journey of redemption. It can’t be completed in two years. There’s no magic. Even if you have the pot of money, fixing the stadium is not building a two-bedroom flat. So we know what we’re doing,” the minister stated.