Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, says it will cost about $1.5m to renovate the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
The minister, who stated this during a recent inspection tour of the facility, added that the funds for the stadium’s repair would be sourced privately.
“It will cost almost $1.5m private funds to fix the stadium and there are processes in handling such a project. We have to check for the best company that can do it,” Dare told journalists after the inspection.
“We are in the final stage in which the contractor will be mobilised to site, so I’m calling on Nigerians to be patient. We are carrying out all the necessary procedures before we move to the site, so the pitch will come back very soon.
“You can see that the stadium is functional. I will say 75 to 80 per cent functional. The swimming pool is working, the indoor sports hall is working, 60,000 seats in the stadium are FIFA compliant and the tracks are okay. So, we will get there very soon.
“It is a function of when the pitch is fixed. Every other thing is working. The lights are back, security is back, water is back. What is left is just the football pitch and the floodlights,” he added.