Governor Umaru Bago of Niger State has directed immediate closure of Bako Kontagora Stadium in Minna, the state capital for maintenance to meet the specifications of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
One of the members of the maintenance committee, Malam Danjuma Mansu disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Minna on Wednesday, adding that the closure would last six weeks which would be inspected by officials of NFF to enable Niger Tornadoes FC to play their matches at home.
“For the past five years now, the Niger Tornadoes team have been playing their matches outside the state, now we want to avoid the stress they go through to travel outside the state to play.
“This will also reduce cost and risk, especially for people that travel with the team to watch them play as the governor believes that is the ideal thing to do,” he said.
He stated further that the maintenance committee was headed by Mr. Abubakar Sadiq, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor – members of the committee were the Chairman of the state Revenue Board and Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry for Sports Development.
According to him, the maintenance was in fulfilment of the campaign promises of the Governor, to meet the yearnings of the people to watch the team play at home.
He disclosed that the maintenance would be done at the cost of N40 million which would serve as an alternative before the completion of the ongoing construction of a new stadium.
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