Residents of Agege in Lagos have cried out to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to expedite action in the ongoing renovation of the Agege Stadium popularly known as soccer temple.
Agege stadium had shutdown for more than a year by the state government but the residents who spoke to Sports247 lamented that the shutdown of the stadium had economic hardship on the petit traders.
One of the traders, Mrs Badejo said her sales are dropped since stadium had shutdown and urged the government to complete the stadium before this year runs out.
“It is hard time we are facing now in Agege and its environs especially we petit traders. Many people especially sports people that used to buy soft drinks from me before are not coming again because Agege stadium had shutdown.I am not happy because it is more than a year now the stadium had shutdown and we don’t know when the contractor would complete the stadium,”she said.
Another trader, identify herself as Elizabeth who involves in recharge cards business lamented low sale after shutdown of Agege stadium.
“Honestly things are not going well in terms of sale and as a result of renovation taking place in Agege stadium.The numbers of people buying recharge cards has been dropped because of the renovation going on in the stadium.Presently we don’t know when the stadium would be ready,”she said.
It is observed that the Agege stadium had also contributed to the failure of MFM in the last season. Some football observers and fans attributed the non performance of the MFM in the premier league as a result of allowing MFM to play outside their homeground.
“If MFM remain in Agege stadium last season, the club might survive relegation because Agege stadium is the home of MFM unfortunately the club played all it’s matches at the Teslim Balogun stadium which really denied their fans to watch them and give them necessary support,”said a football fan who refused to mention his name.
Presently work has stopped temporarily at the stadium. It was gathered that the contractor stopped the work due to the non release of funds.
The question is when the Agege stadium would be ready as club owners, coaches, managers and other football stakeholders are gradually losing their patience on the slow pace of the work at the Agege stadium.
