Many Nigerian sports administrators are contractors, Egbe alleges
Nigerian sports will continue to suffer from poor and inadequate facilities unless administrators face their official duties and allow qualified contractors to handle critical projects, the Managing Director of Monimichelle Construction Company, Ebi Egbe, has said.
Lamenting the effects of poorly built facilities on the country’s sports, Egbe said that many administrators have left their primary jobs to corner and build substandard facilities to the detriment of the country.
Pointing specifically to the lack of FIFA-approved football pitches across the country, he said: “If we can separate administrative duties from professional groundsmanship, we will drastically reduce the poor construction and bad maintenance culture of football pitches in Nigeria.
“It is the most damaging structural issue in Nigerian football development. When contracts for stadiums, training pitches, floodlights, turf systems, and sports complexes are awarded to politically connected proxy companies rather than technically competent firms, the result is usually poor-quality infrastructure, abandoned projects, inflated costs, and facilities that fail to meet international standards.
“In many cases, reputable sports construction companies with proven experience in FIFA standard turf installation, drainage systems, athletics tracks, seating engineering, and facility management are pushed aside through unethically manipulated bidding processes, unrealistic contract pricing, administrative favouritism, and coordinated blackmail or propaganda campaigns,” he lamented.
“The consequences are visible across Nigerian football. As we have witnessed, poor playing surfaces cause injuries, stadiums failing CAF/FIFA inspections, a lack of maintenance culture, the waste of public funds, and clubs being forced to play home matches away from their states.Nigerian sports will continue to suffer from poor and inadequate facilities unless administrators face their official duties and allow qualified contractors to handle critical projects, the Managing Director of Monimichelle Construction Company, Ebi Egbe, has said.
Lamenting the effects of poorly built facilities on the country’s sports, Egbe said that many administrators have left their primary jobs to corner and build substandard facilities to the detriment of the country.
Pointing specifically to the lack of FIFA-approved football pitches across the country, he said: “If we can separate administrative duties from professional groundsmanship, we will drastically reduce the poor construction and bad maintenance culture of football pitches in Nigeria.
“It is the most damaging structural issue in Nigerian football development. When contracts for stadiums, training pitches, floodlights, turf systems, and sports complexes are awarded to politically connected proxy companies rather than technically competent firms, the result is usually poor-quality infrastructure, abandoned projects, inflated costs, and facilities that fail to meet international standards.
“In many cases, reputable sports construction companies with proven experience in FIFA standard turf installation, drainage systems, athletics tracks, seating engineering, and facility management are pushed aside through unethically manipulated bidding processes, unrealistic contract pricing, administrative favouritism, and coordinated blackmail or propaganda campaigns,” he lamented.
“The consequences are visible across Nigerian football. As we have witnessed, poor playing surfaces cause injuries, stadiums failing CAF/FIFA inspections, a lack of maintenance culture, the waste of public funds, and clubs being forced to play home matches away from their states.