National Sports Commission Chairman Mallam Shehu Dikko has added his voice to the growing need for safety in the nation’s sporting facilities. Speaking while hosting the CAF Safe Stadium Initiative delegation, Dikko emphasized that it had become imperative to ensure the safety of lives at match venues.

His words, “We are placing a premium on the quality of sporting facilities across the country. Safety standards must not be compromised in erecting the facilities. That is why we are trying to set up the National Sports Infrastructure Development and Management Board so as to properly regulate and advance the development of sporting facilities across the county and ensure proper management in line to best international practices. If you are building any stadium or sporting infrastructure it must meet the standards set by this Board. They will be the regulatory Board for all our sporting facilities. 

“It can’t be business-as-usual. The era of building a stadium for the fun of it is gone. We must ensure that it meets the necessary standards for safety for instance. Safety of our stadiums start with the safety measures put in place in the facility. How many exits does the stadium have? Are there fire fighting measures in place, crowd control mechanisms and even sustainable maintenance plan? All these things are very important, not just the erection of stands.”

He continued, “With this Board in place, the issue of having political rallies on football pitches will be checked. We are also talking about the safety of the players. There was a well-laid grass pitch we had in the east, but before we knew it, they had constant rallies on it, and it became a poor pitch. There are carpets that should be laid on the surface to protect the grass while these non-football events are going on. We can’t continue endangering the careers and health of our players and athletes with all these acts. This Board will checkmate all these. If we see any pitch that becomes substandard after a rally, we will close it down until it is fit for the players to use. When they know that such measures are in place, they will stop arbitrarily using football pitches for non-football events without protecting the playing surface.”

The NSC helmsman also spoke to the need for personnel that are well-versed in safety standards manning these facilities.

“If you have the best and safest sporting facilities and they are not run by well-trained personnel, it is as good as non-existent. That is why we have to emphasize on constant training and retraining of the personnel that function at these venues. That is why I like this initiative by CAF. This (CAF) is my family. I am still a member of the CAF Inter-clubs competition organising Committee and club licensing management and part of our mandate is ensuring compliant sporting infrastructure. In fact I am the longest serving member of that committee. So this is my family. All I will plead with you is to ensure that this doesn’t become a one-off. It should be constant and I must congratulate the NFF for this effort” he added.

Speaking earlier, leader of the delegation and Chairman of NFF Security Committee, Babagana Kali pointed out that they had trained up to 20 NPFL clubs security officers on the need and rudiments for safety at the match venues stating, “We want all our stadiums to be safe.”

Head of CAF Safety and Security, Dr. Chris Emeruwa stated that the emphasis are two-pronged – the infrastructure and the “human capacity that delivers on safety standards.”

He added, “Chairman please use your good office to interface with the state commissioners of sports on the need for safety at the stadiums across the country. It has to start from the states. We want Nigeria to set the standards so that we can refer other countries to come and learn from Nigeria.”

Nigeria is the 18th country hosting the CAF Safe Stadium Initiative.