11 years after Gombe Township Stadium dilapidated – Sports Commission
Chima Azubuike, Gombe
Chairman, Gombe State Sports Commission, Hamza Adamu has bemoaned the level of neglect of the township stadium 11 years after it was built.
Adamu made this disclosure on Monday, at the unveiling of 78 -man contingent for the National Sports Festival, by the Governor Muhammadu Yahaya.
Recall that the township stadium, otherwise known as Pantami stadium was built by former Governor Danjuma Goje.
While appealing for an an upgrade, Adamu noted that the facility has witnessed drought in water supply, adding that for the past 5 years borehole had stopped functioning.
He said, “The stadium was built 10-11years ago but has never witnessed any maintenance work at the stadium, so there is alot of decay at the stadium. As a commission we invited ministry of housing and urban planning development to make assessment and they gave us report and we also reported the flood light issue to the ministry of works they also made assessment and gave us back report and we have problem of boreholes for the past five years has not functioned.
“Your Excellency, even the synetic grass has been there for more than ten years and needs replacement and so many of them. In our small stadiums especially Abubakar Umar stadium, we have problem of encroachment; the surveyor general has been asked to identify the original beacons and they have made suggestions.”
He revealed that the state flagship club, Gombe United is in dire need of government support, adding that the 78 man contingent to Edo relied on the support of institutions in the state to transport the team.
“Sports is all inclusive we have Gombe United Football club that is in the NNL and thank God the club raking now is very favourable. What we are seeing is that the club is on it way to going back to premiere league. However, the issue of fund is what is the challenge out of 9matches we didn’t lose a match. All the matches were won and other matches away were drawn.
“We will be traveling to Benin but we would like to appreciate the effort of federal College of Horticulture Dadinkowa, Federal University Kashere, College of Education technical for donating buses to us. They have all given us one coaster bus each to convey of athletes to and from Benin. I want to appeal to government to provide us buses so that we would not be going to institutions, inconveniencing them and unfortunately they are in session,”Adamu said.
