Minister of Youth and Sports Development Mr Sunday Dare has denied the report that he said the Ministry needs N81m to cut grass of the MKO National Stadium in Abuja .
Mr Dare While.speaking at Sports Writers Association of Nigeria SWAN event said he had reached out to the Abuja Environmental Protection Board for an assessment of the stadium, which was built in 2003 with N53 billion on a 29 hectares (72 acres) of land, Daily Trust reports.
“We approached AEPB to come to see what can be done to clear the grass and weed in the stadium and they told us it would cost us N81m.
The report went viral on the internet on Sunday and many people attacked the minister for requesting for such huge amount to clean the stadium
While debunking the report The minister on his tweeter handle said “This story is out of context. Misleading. A misrepresentation.The Ministry was given a bill , the Ministry did not accept. It will be detrimental to spend such an amount. And it can be better invested. That is what I said. This is not what they have reported.”
Dare who said the ministry has rejected the bill maintained that “If we tell Nigerians we used N81m to cut grass, which is not even available, there will be an outcry.
“The funds are not really there for us and that is why we are partnering with private investors to bring back the key components of our infrastructure.”
