Governor Uba Sani says the Ahmadu Bello Stadium will be transformed into a FIFA-standard Sports facility that will host international competitions.
The governor made this known when officials of the National Institute for Sports, led by its Director-General, Phillip Shuaibu, paid him a courtesy visit at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House on Tuesday.
He stated that the stadium was built in 1965, so it had to be completely remodelled to meet the needs of modern times.
Sani disclosed that the stadium would be transformed to a 32, 000-seating-capacity when the remodelling was completed, which would double its current capacity.
Sani pledged that the upgraded Ahmadu Bello Stadium would be the second most spacious after the National Stadium in Abuja.
He described the director-general of NIS as versatile, adding that before Shuaibu came on board, the Institute was moribund, but he had started turning it around.
Recalling that he and the director-general were in the trenches together for the restoration of democracy in 1999, he said that Shuaibu performed well as a Deputy Governor of Edo.
Speaking earlier, the director-general said that the mandate of NIS was to develop manpower for the sports ecosystem, including the training of Coaches and paramedics.
Shuaibu recalled that he took steps to reposition the Institute when he assumed office, by constituting a 32-member star-studded team.
According to him, the team came up with a 10-year work plan, conducted training and created six zonal offices for proper coordination.
He said that the North-West zonal office would be located in Kaduna, while Yola and Jos would host the zonal offices of the North-East and the North-Central geopolitical zones, respectively.
According to him, the South-South zonal office would be located in Benin, and the South-East and South-West offices would be in Enugu and Abeokuta cities, respectively.
Shuaibu thanked Uba Sani for promising to provide a fully furnished office for the take-off of the North-West zonal office.
