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By Our Correspondent

The Minister of Youth and Sports Development Mr. Sunday Dare has inaugurated an implementation committee on National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Bestchoicesports.com.ng can report.

Inaugurating the committee Monday, the minisyer charged the the members to carry out their assignment  with dispatch, even as he assured that the edifice  would be restored  to it’s  original  blueprint.  

The Minister made this assertion  while presiding over the inaugural  meeting  of the Ministerial Implementation  Committee on Monday. 

He said the Ministry had begun a journey to restore the  monument to its original glory.  

He said ” The committee’s role is to ensure delivery  of the facilities at the stadium in  line with  the new vision  of the Ministry  on the comprehensive  audit at the National Stadium, Surulere. This  is a  monument of national pride which had suffered neglect for over 18 years due to  limited resources.  We have seen a departure from its original blueprint to a point in which you could hardly recognise the National Stadium Surulere as a sporting facility’’.

He recalled that on 9th June 2020, he had  set up a Ministerial Taskforce on the National Stadium Surulere  to verify and screen the legality or otherwise of the occupants.

According  to him, ‘’The National Stadium is a Federal Government property and therefore no private or individual structure should find its way there without the approval of the Federal government of Nigeria and the Ministry of Youth and  Sports Development, cleared  from the office of the Honourable Minister. Any of such structures that falls short of these two major approvals is in contravention and as such remains illegal’’.  

The Minister expressed confidence in the committee headed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Gabriel Aduda,  and other seasoned Sports administrators and experienced  individuals  from  the Ministry and the organised private sector  to   carry out the task  of  restoring the National Stadium Surulere to its  original blueprint 

Responding on behalf of the Committee, the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Gabriel Aduda  while thanking the Minister for  the  opportunity  to serve,  assured that the Committee would  deliver on its mandate/terms of reference within   the time frame .