By Martin Odiete
Chairman of the Federal Capital Territory Football Association, Abbah Mukhtar is really bothered by the state of Football facilities in the city lamenting that every efforts to upgrade them has been met with bricks wall.
Speaking with www.theajasanews.com recently in Abuja, Mukhtar explained how several efforts he has made to commence work on the facilities especially the Area 10 Old Parade ground has been frustrated by government bureaucracy.
Most regrettably the FA Chairman noted is that fact that the facilities seem not to have any particular owner. “Facility is a major worry for everybody and let the truth be told you hardly know the real owners of the facilities in the Federal Capital Territory. When we first came on board the first thing I ask is, who is the actual owner of the facilities? And it is a big problem. You all know what happen with the military and the Area 10 Old Parade Ground. It was a big fight even to reclaim it.
“Now is it FCT or Abuja investment that is the owner of the Area 10 or is it the Sports Council. Nobody has control. I invested nearly two million Naira on that grass and events are been done on that grass, so the money is wasted. We wanted to exclusively cover the grass just for the pro one and the armature to enjoy it. Now we are back to square zero because everybody just rise and make use of the pitch. They do conference on the ground, they do any event, so unfortunately we are in that fix.
Then the Area 3 is overused, the Astroturf has exceeded its life span. It needs maintenance, it needs watering, it needs brushing. So, we were looking to do more actually, I was looking to maybe to build a stand, and do other things there but I had to stop because of the government,” he said.
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