DISTURBED by the depletion of sporting facilities at Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu, the Senate Committee Chairman on Sports and Social Development, Adamu Ibrahim Gumba, has called for a review of the Federal Government's policy on disposal of equipment and other installations at various stadia in the country.Gumba who led his committee members to assess the spot facilities in Nnamdi Azikwe Stadium, Enugu on Thursday, literally wept over the recent outright sale and auctioning of serviceable equipment and other facilities at the Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium Enugu, by a Presidential Committee set up by the Federal Government.Among the sporting equipment disposed off by the Presidential Committee at the Enugu Stadium were computer sets, generating sets used during the last junior world cup in 2009. The law maker stated that the hasty auctioning of such facilities without a recourse to the nation's National Assembly {NASS} which appropriated funds for the items was quite unfortunate and unacceptable.Fielding questions from newsmen in Enugu shortly after the tour, Senator and his colleagues regretted that the presidential committee could embarked on such decision without due consultations'It was a wrong decision to have auctioned such facilities belonging to the country, we are pained with what has happened , because you cannot just sell facilities purchase with tax payers money without a recourse to the National Assembly. We have gone to other stadia and the story is the same', they stated.Senator Gumba opined that rather than auctioning such items, the Federal Government ought to have maintained them because 'this stadium still needs those generators and computers'He explained that the visit was part of their oversight function to ascertain the true state of the nation's stadia with a view to repositioning them for effective operation., just as he applauded management of the Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium for their commitment to duty. The committee chairman, who expressed worry over the current dilapidation of various stadia so far visited in the in country,stressed the need for Nigerians to start imbibing maintenance culture, recalling, 'that had been the bane of public infrastructures over the years. Earlier, the National Sports Commission (NSC), Zone 1, Coordinator of Anambra Ebonyi and Enugu States, Stanly Okebugwu, who conducted the legislators round various sessions of the stadium, had used the forum to enumerate the litany of problems confronting the stadium especially as it concerns electricity and water.
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