Over three trailer loads of gas stoves allegedly purchased as election gifts by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign team have been abandoned and locked up in the velodrome of the National Stadium, Abuja, for about two years.

The 3,600-capacity velodrome (an arena for track cycling) was completed in 2002 ahead of the 2003 All Africa Games hosted by Abuja. However, the multimillion-naira velodrome has been abandoned since the Games.

The cooking stoves estimated to have cost millions of naira were said to have been kept inside the velodrome since 2014 by the Jonathan re-election campaigners, apparently to be used to woo voters during the 2015 presidential elections.

Our correspondent, who visited the stadium on Monday, saw over 2,000 rusting cooking stoves abandoned at the velodrome.

The facility, which is in a dilapidating condition, was filled with litter when our correspondent visited.

The cooking stoves, our correspondent observed, filled up the basement store of the velodrome and spilled over to the upper level.

It was learnt that they were brought from Lagos and kept at the stadium, while some were taken to the North by the contractors.

A driver with the ministry of sports, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said cyclists and other sports enthusiasts had been unable to access the velodrome since the authorities locked it up.

“The gas burners were brought for the election campaign of former President Jonathan, but I don’t know why they were not shared. What I learnt was that the items were supplied late by the contractors,” he stated.

But a security guard explained that the stadium management had written to the Jonathan campaign team several times to remove the items, but there had not been any response.

He stated that the stoves had attracted burglars to the stadium, adding that the velodrome had been raided three times.

The guard, a member of the Nigerian Legion, said the security personnel at the stadium now live in fear over the raids on the velodrome by thieves who scale the fence to steal the gas stoves.

He said, “Thieves raided the velodrome last month. They will park their truck along the road, scale the perimeter fence and jump over the second fence into the velodrome and throw out as many gas stoves as they like.

“Each time we see their powerful torchlight, we run for cover because we are not armed and we cannot confront them. When we informed the police about it, they deployed policemen armed with batons like us and after about two weeks, they stopped coming.”

Following the incessant burglary, the legionnaire told our correspondent that the stadium authorities had directed that four security guards should be on duty at night, with one guard on patrol during the day.

The guard lamented their working conditions, saying they had not been paid by the sports ministry in the last five months.

“Each time the Nigerian Legion approached them for our salaries, the ministry said they didn’t have money. We are just doing this job because we have nothing else to do,” he said.

The Director, Public Relations, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr. Tolu Makinde, said the stoves were procured by the last administration for its poverty alleviation programme.

He added that they were kept in the velodrome because the Federal Government had not fully paid the contractors, adding that they would be removed as soon as the issue of payment was settled.

He admitted that the ministry was owing the security guards, but noted that the director of finance and administration had assured him that the men would soon be paid.

Makinde said, “The information I gathered is that the materials are gas stoves. The last administration bought it as part of its poverty alleviation programme, but it appears they did not fully settle the contractor, that is why they are being kept there. The stoves are being kept there temporarily.”




http://punchng.com/campaigners-abandon-jonathan-stoves-abuja-stadium/

OK, noted

Nigeria needs true federalism, not disguise federalism