An event held at the Abeokuta stadium Photo: Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta

An event held at the Abeokuta stadium
Photo: Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) says it will ban the use of stadia for activities other than sports nation-wide.

An NFF official, Chidi Offor-Okenwa, told NAN in Enugu on Wednesday that the action had become necessary to cut down the cost of maintaining the stadia.

Offor-Okenwa, who is also the Chairman of Enugu State Football Association, said that the federation had succeeded in stopping the state government, political parties and other interest groups from using the stadium.

“The good people of Enugu State and of course, the government of Enugu State appreciates the fact that stadia in Enugu State are purely for sporting activities.

“We (presently) don’t have a record of hosting religious activities at the main bowl of Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium.

“In Enugu here, the stadium is actually meant for football; it is meant for athletes, it is meant for indoor games and we appropriately put the facilities in use in that vein.

“So also for Rangers (International FC, Enugu) camp and of course the UNEC (University of Nigeria Enugu Campus) stadium.

“We ensure that we don’t conduct any religious activity; any unsporting activity in our facilities.

“And we take that message to all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria to ensure that the (sporting) facilities last and serve the purpose (for) which it was built with the tax payers money.”

He said that the federation had warned stadium managers against “unsporting and extraneous activities” and its implications on the development of sports.

NAN reports that unsporting activities such as religious, political and social gathering had led to the deterioration of most sports facilities, especially stadia in the country.