By Terfa Alaghga
The President of the Nigerian Football Federation NFF, Ibrahim Gusau has declared that with the level of upgrade of facilities at the Aper Aku Stadium Makurdi, he is of the belief that it will be an alternative to the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo.
Gusau made the declaration after inspecting the ongoing renovation at the Aper Aku Stadium Makurdi. He said, “my desire is to make sure that in the shortest time, we will have an alternative stadium to the Uyo stadium and with the work that I have seen going on here at the Aper Aku stadium, I believe that the alternative stadium will be here in Makurdi”.
The NFF President who highlighted the importance of having multiple stadiums in the country, where Grade A matches involving the Super Eagles of Nigeria would be played, explained that, “it is becoming a major source of worry to me that in a country like Nigeria, we have only one stadium where we can play international matches involving the Super Eagles”.
Gusau who was accompanied to the stadium by the Governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, disclosed that, “when I heard that the governor has awarded contract for the upgrade of the facilities at the Aper Aku Stadium Makurdi, and work is ongoing, I hurriedly came to discuss with him, see the extent of work and also see how the Federation can assist but I must confess, I am really happy with the quality of work on ground”.
He assured that with the level of commitment shown by the governor in the development of football and sports in general in the state, the Federation would support him to achieve his dreams, assuring that the Technical Department of the NFF, would work hand in hand with the contractor, to ensure that the quality of work was not compromised so that the facility would serve as an alternative stadium for the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
Also speaking, the contractor handling the work at the Aper Aku Stadium, Ebi Egbe who said the football pitch which was a natural turf, had been converted to an artificial turf in order to reduce the maintenance costs. He further said, high quality grass would be used at the stadium and it would be the first of its kind in Africa.
Egbe assured of his commitment to prioritizing the quality of work. He disclosed that the local content of the project is 95% complete and if it were not for the import based element that was attached to the project which he does not have the control over, he would have met the deadline. He however, said he was optimistic that it would not be far from meeting the deadline.
