President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has given an assurance that Lagos National Stadium in Surulere will soon be renovated and resurrected as part of Nigeria’s renewed effort towards hosting major continental events.
Sports247 gathered that the assurance from President Tinubu was part of his declarations and approvals during a meeting with the leadership of Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Nairobi, Kenya.
The assurance was also part of resolutions from high-level discussions that took place between Tinubu and CAF president, Patrice Motsepe on the sidelines of the Africa Forward Summit, where Nigeria also submitted a bid to host the CAF General Assembly in October and 2026 African Footballer of The Year awards.
Details of Tinubu’s assurance regarding revival of the abandoned SportsCity complex in Lagos and other matters were provided by the president of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, while speaking on a TVC News broadcast.
Gusau said, “We had successful discussions about how Nigeria can play a leading role in hosting events at the continental and global levels.
“The president gave an assurance that he will surely see how the Lagos National Stadium in Surulere can be put to use and also the National Stadium in Abuja.”
Apart from renovation of Nigeria’s major sports complexes in Lagos and Abuja, Gusau also revealed aspects of the discussions that dwelt on involving the private sector in effectively mobilising and running Nigeria’s evolving sports ecosystem policy.
“There were also talks about involving people of the private sector and sports administrators in each state. We gave assurances to the CAF president that Nigeria will soon take a leadership role in the organisation of continental events.
“The president of Nigeria also agreed that getting the private sector involved means building confidence through transparent, accountable and professional operations.
“Once we do that, we will feel a better impact from the Nigerian ecosystem in football, which is very large. All this will help us take our position regarding hosting of CAF events in the country,” Gusau concluded
