Speaker Abbas Pledges House of Reps Support To NFF over NFF-FIFA Players’ Hostel and new Training Pitches
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, has pledged the support of the lower chambers of the National Assembly to the visionary leadership of Engineer Ibrahim Musa Gusau-led Nigerian FootballFederation(NFF). Saying that the green chamber will lean it support to NFF in order areas deem fit and necessary to seek their assistance.
Abbas was the special guest of honour on Tuesday asbNFF flagged off NFF-FIFA Players’ Hostel and new Training Pitches at the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja. He cut the tape on the epitaph, which signalled the commencement of work on the site.
Meanwhile, eminent personalities in the political, business and football sectors showed genuine excitement at a transformational project that is sure to boost the stock of the Ibrahim Gusau-led NFF administration with football stakeholders and enthusiasts at home and abroad.
“This is a noble project and the National Assembly will give it full support. I
congratulate the National Sports Commission and the Nigeria Football Federation, and I thank FIFA for agreeing to fund this project,” Rt. Hon. Abbas said as he cut the tape.
Lead of the FIFA team, Gelson Fernandes (Deputy Chief Member Associations Officer/Regional Director, Africa) said FIFA was happy to provide funds for the project as infrastructure development is at the heart of FIFA’s vision since the coming into office of President Gianni Infantino.
An elated Gusau stated that the facilities will serve all the various national teams: “Indeed, my joy knows no bounds as this is one of the projects that I was determined to push with my Executive Committee to bequeath as a legacy to Nigeria football, right from the day we were sworn into office in Benin City on Friday, 30th September 2022.
“For sustained success, it is imperative for us to provide the conducive environment, infrastructure, equipment and support systems that will allow the players and officials to give their very best at all times, and compete favourably at the highest level…building a players’ hostel and having new training pitches, that can serve the national teams, leagues and academies, will not only enhance team management, it will surely reduce expenditure in these areas and enable us to commit more funds to grassroots development programs.”
There were goodwill messages by Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Alhaji Shehu Dikko, who incidentally played a key role in the actualization of the old FIFA Goal Project that included the Technical Centre and the synthetic pitch, which will now be reconstructed, as well as securing the land space for the new project; Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, CG Bashir Adeniyi; former Edo State deputy governor Phillip Shaibu; Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Abdul Ningi; former youth and sports minister, Chief Sunday Dare (now the SA, Media and Public Communications/Spokesperson to Mr. President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces) and; Nigeria legend Olusegun Odegbami, who spoke on behalf of legends present.
The event was well attended with dignitaries from within and outside the country, many of course are sports enthusiasts who came to witnessed a ground breaking ceremony of NFF over NFF-FIFA Players’ Hostel and new Training Pitches.
