Reps to probe planned transfer of National Stadium to Lagos govt

The House of Representatives says it will investigate terms and conditions of proposed transfer of National Stadium, Surulere, to Lagos State Government by Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Already, it has mandated its Committee on Sports to investigate the use of budgetary allocations for the maintenance of the stadium in the last five years.

The resolution on this emanated from the adoption of a motion by Rep. Danburam Nuhu (Kano-APC) at plenary on Thursday

Nuhu had told his colleagues that the ministry was at an advanced stage of entering into agreement with Lagos Government to take over the stadium.

He, therefore, urged the house to take urgent steps to ensure that favourable terms and conditions were provided for the take-over.

According to him, to keep up with the maintenance of the stadium, a huge budgetary allocation is made annually.

“In 2016 for instance, the sum of N400 million was appropriated for the purpose,’’ Nuhu said.

But, Rep. James Faleke opposed the motion, arguing that since no formal agreement had been signed by the ministry and Lagos Government, the House had nothing to investigate in the matter.

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Similarly, Rep. Oghene Egoh said rather than shoot the proposal down, the House ought to commend Lagos state for taking steps to revamp the stadium that had been abandoned for years.

“This is a stadium that had been in a bad shape due to poor maintenance over the years; so, I think we should commend the Lagos State Government for the initiative to revamp the facility instead of investigating the terms of the agreement,’’ Egoh said.

However, the House mandated the Committee on Sports to investigate the matter and report back within two weeks.