Sports administrators have turned contractors - Ebi Egbe 

Sports administrators have turned contractors - Ebi Egbe 

By Akeem Busari 

The Managing Director of Monimitchelle Sports Facility construction company, Chief Ebi Egbe has once again highlighted the unsavoury roles played by sports administrators as the major handicap to construction and provision of quality sport facilities in Nigeria. 

Speaking with journalists on the state of sports facilities, particularly, the stadia, he blamed sports administrators for using proxies and unqualified companies to acquire stadium projects. 

"It is the most damaging structural issues in Nigerian football development. When contracts for stadiums, training pitches, floodlights, turf systems, and sports complexes are influenced by politically connected proxy companies rather than technically competent firms, the result is usually poor quality infrastructure, abandoned projects, inflated costs, and facilities that fail 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 favoritism and coordinated blackmail or propaganda campaigns," he lamented. 

"The consequences are visible across Nigerian football. As we have witnessed how poor playing surfaces causes injuries, stadiums failing CAF/FIFA inspection, lack of maintenance culture, waste of public funds and clubs being forced to play home matches away from their states.

The renowned sportspreneur and renowned sports facility construction expert continued, "countries that have successfully developed football infrastructure, usually separate politics from technical delivery. They emphasize transparent procurement, technical prequalification, independent project supervision, performance bonds and pre construction maintenance obligations are embedded on their contracts."

Egbe went ahead to admonish Nigerian football administrators on the needs to prioritize competence, long term facility durability, and international compliance over patronage networks. 

"Genuine sports infrastructure development is highly specialized. Building a FIFA quality pitch is very different from ordinary civil construction because it involves, subsoil engineering, irrigation systems, turf science, drainage gradients, player safety standards, lighting lux calculations and environmental considerations."

"Without experienced professionals handling these projects, Nigeria will continue to spend heavily, while producing infrastructure that cannot compete globally," he added conclusively.