The N200 million massive sports hostel complex at Adamasingba Stadium in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, has been neglected by the state government since 2010, Daily Trust findings have shown.
Since the project was awarded, successive governments in the state failed to complete the complex; which could have been generating revenue for the state government.
Findings by our correspondent reveal that a former governor of the state, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, awarded the project to a contractor, popularly called Chief Ajisafe, and mobilised him with N63m.
A source in the stadium told our correspondent that the project was a sports council project sponsored by the state government to ease the stress faced by “away teams” whenever they visited the state-based team, the Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC).
The source said, “The primary objective of the complex is to accommodate and camp away teams in a conducive environment and to relieve them of the stress of looking for accommodation whenever they arrive. We have such complexes in other stadia across the country and all over the world.
“If it were in place, the state could have been generating millions of naira annually because we know how much we pay to hotels in Ibadan today.”
He added that, “Apart from that complex, you will agree with me that sports is one of the factors unifying Nigerians and engaging youths regardless of their tribe and background. If you go round this stadium, you will discover that there are decaying facilities.
“For eight years of the immediate past governor, Abiola Ajimobi, he didn’t spend a kobo on infrastructural development of sports in the state. That is one of the reasons our great club, 3SC, was relegated, and we have not been able to recover.”
A sports administrator, Olawale Aremu, described the abandonment of the complex and other archaic facilities in the stadium as an eyesore.
Aremu blamed the state government for its inability to effectively manage the stadium; which he said was once the best in the region, and added that it could have been a great source of revenue for the state government.
He said, “Let me tell you, since Akala left as governor in 2011, his successors have never been interested in sports development, especially at the grassroots, which is one of the challenges our team is facing today.
“We play in other states and we know how their governors care for their teams. If you go to the Ijebu Ode Stadium in neighbouring Ogun State, you will see this kind of complex for the away teams to stay with good facilities. That is how it is all over the world. I pray the new governor improves on the facilities on ground.”
A site engineer, Yinka Mohammed, in his assessment of the project, said although it was constructed with a good foundation and strong iron rods, the government should pull it down and start all over again.
Engr. Mohammed said, “No engineer can trust the structure that was neglected for close to 10 years. If government is serious about constructing this edifice, the best thing is to pull it down and build another one. If you go round the building, you will see that even the German Floor has weakened.
“The casting is becoming dilapidated. I don’t know how many coaches are there in the plan, but even if it is a story building, the engineer needs to be very careful to avert sudden collapse.”
The General Manager of 3SC, Mr. Adegboyega Makinde, in an interview with Daily Trust, said the project was truncated as a result of a major water pipeline discovered at the site during the construction.
Mr. Makinde said with the contract review committee set up by the incumbent government in the state, there was hope that the state government would look for a way to revisit the project and do the needful.
He said, “Yes, it was abandoned by the contractor handling it during the regime of the former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala. The contractor stopped because of the major water pipeline discovered under the structure. When the contractor started the diversion of the water pipeline, there was a little financial problem in the state which made him to abandon it. The good news is that the government of the day has set up a committee to review all the abandoned projects in the state, and that of Adamasingba is not left out.”
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