In 2009, the national sport festival was held in Kaduna state. The essence of the festival was to develop, nurture and discover young talents to represent Nigeria in regional and international competitions. The Kaduna state government spent over 3 billion naira to host this competition with the modern state of sport facilities, built and some renovated to meet international standard.
The Murtala Square, Kaduna was one of the sporting complexes that were given a face lift and a new sporting hall complex was built with indoor sport games like, modern basketball court inside the hall. New sporting facilities that can compete anywhere in the world were built here in the Murtala square which was a delight to watch young talents train in different sports. Some of the sporting facilities built in this complex were, modern swimming pool, Astra turf hockey pitch, modern lawn tennis courts, basketball courts, football pitch, baseball court, handball courts, cricket pitch, games village and polo ground renovated.
Almost a decade after this competition was held, the complex is a shadow of itself, with dilapidated structures and in a very deplorable condition. The complex is simply an eyesore to behold, with torn security fence, blown off roof of spectators stand, blown off spectators’ seats, overgrown grasses that now serve as an abode for dangerous reptiles. This attitude by Nigerians not taking adequate care of public facilities should be advocated by authorities concerned. And also the lack of political will by our political leaders to engage facility managers to managed public properties calls for concern.
It is a very shameful thing if we have foreigners in this country that witnessed the national sport festival in Kaduna and probably visit the same venue to see and catch a glimpse of the sporting facilities. What will these structures speak of us as a people? It is very disheartening for a complex built and renovated almost ten years ago with tax payers’ money now in shambles. Is the fault from the government? Or from the general public who lacks the awareness to handle public properties with care?
All the same, the two stake holders have their own fair share of blame. The government as an institution as a matter of urgency both past and present should have engaged qualified facility managers to managed this facilities as being done all over the world. And the general public also should be educated on how to handle public properties with care to ensure its durability. The Murtala square sporting complex, Kaduna is one too many public facilities in Nigeria that is in a bad shape.
This poor maintenance culture that is embedded in our political system should be uprooted from us all and be dumped into the abyss for us to have meaningful development in Nigeria. Sport development in Kaduna state and Nigeria as a whole will continue to suffer and faced with stiffer challenges if these facilities are left unattended to.
Enobong Dennis Ekwere, Kaduna
