By Benson Ezugwu
Stakeholders in Enugu State have expressed worries over the worsening condition of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, home base of Rangers International Football Club.
They made their views known in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Enugu.
A cross-section of the stakeholders appealed to Gov. Peter Mbah to quickly intervene in the ongoing renovation which had dragged since 2021.
They wondered what had become of the renovation as no work had been carried out in the stadium in the past one year.
A trader in the stadium, Moses Ikah, told NAN that the absence of activities in the stadium had slowed down his business.
“I sell thousands of jerseys during Rangers matches and you see business booming and everywhere gyrating and people are happy.
“But now the reverse is the case, we just come to while away time, everything is at standstill since the past two years, my business has nosedived,” Ikah said.
He appealed to the new administration in the state to help breathe life back into the stadium.
“I appeal to the governor to do everything to bring activities back to the cathedral,” he said.
In the same vein, Iyabo Ojo, a herbal medicine dealer, decried lack of activity in the stadium.
She called on relevant authorities to do everything to restore normal activities in the stadium.
“We are just marking time here since two years; nothing is happening. We want government to help us.
“We are paying revenue but we sell nothing because people are not coming to the stadium,” Ojo said.
A member of the Rangers supporters club, Longinus Ibe, described the situation at the stadium as confusing and uncertain.
“As you can see, we come here every morning to eat mama put. As it stands now, nobody knows what is happening.
“Everyday we keep hearing grass has arrived Lagos but nobody gives you the exact situation.
“Everything is ready, except the grasses and for over a year now, it has been so with no improvement,” he said.
Ibe appealed to the governor to urgently intervene to save the stadium from further decay.
“You can see the surroundings, it has started decaying due to lack of activities. It’s bad,” Ibe said.
Meanwhile, a stadium official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, disclosed that the present administration was already making some moves.
“Some persons from the government house recently came here to inspect the arena.
“I believe the governor must have sent them on a fact-finding; so, we hope that very soon action will commence,” he said. (NAN)
