Billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote, has promised continuous support for the development and maintenance of sports facilities in Nigeria.
The business mogul made the pledge on Thursday when he inspected the renovated Moshood Abiola Stadium pitch, adopted by him under the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare’s Adopt-a-Pitch initiative.
Dangote, whose company, Dangote Industries Group sponsored the rehabilitation of the pitch, expressed satisfaction with the level of work done, as he was conducted round the pitch with the sprinklers working well to the administration of all.
• The sprinklers wetting the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja… yesterday
Remarkably, the two Digital score-boards were beaming live.
The business mogul however, assured the Sports Minister of his continued support. “You can be rest assured of our continued support. You can always knock on our doors. We shouldn’t allow our Stadia to collapse. Nigerians have a very strong love for Sports, so I think we need to complement Government’s efforts to ensure that everything works”, he promised.
The Minister expressed appreciation to Dangote for accepting to adopt the Moshood Abiola Stadium, stating that he was the first to embrace the Ministry’s Adopt-a-Pitch initiative. “I want to thank you for investing in the development of our Sports and the fruit of that partnership has blossomed into what we see here today. I would like to inform you that we have just received CAF certification of this Stadium for international matches, which means that the World Cup qualifiers, will be played here. This wouldn’t have been possible without your support”, Dare told visiting Dangote.
The rehabilitated Moshood Abiola Stadium pitch is complete with nursery beds, two digital score boards, 24 Sprinklers and two-year maintenance, as part of the contract sponsored by Dangote Industries under the Adopt-a-Pitch Public Private Partnership initiative of the Ministry.
Aside hosting the Falcons vs Cameron on Saturday, the stadium would come alive in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers between the Super Eagles and Black Stars of Ghana next month; the first major international assignment on the pitch since after the rehabilitation.
