Press Releases

Teslim Balogun Stadium Is Ready To Host FIFA U-17 Championship – Fashola

Mar 25, 2009 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Wednesday declared that the administration has risen strongly to the challenge posed by the deficit of sports facilities, adding that with the upliftment of the quality of facilities at Teslim Balogun Stadium, it has met all conditions stipulated by FIFA and is ready to host the U-17 Championship.

Governor Fashola who spoke at the Metropolitan Club venue of the launch of the Sydney Bialosa Asiodu Foundation said in addition, the Campos Square is also being given a facelift as a tartan track, a basket ball court, a lawn tennis court and an artificial turf has been provided for the community.

Continuing, the Governor said: “The same is happening in Agege Stadium which is being completed to the same standard and we are expanding to Ikorodu, Epe, Badagry to mention but a few”.

“We cannot finish fixing all the problems but we will set very strong standards and benchmarks upon which the life of this state can be built for the future”, the Governor also said.

Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) also hinted of plans by the State Government to use the muscle, authority and legitimacy of government as a very strong platform to unleash the potentials of sports in the state.

He said the government alone cannot deliver sports but would need the commitment and dedication of great minds like those at the ceremony which comprises corporate chief executives and several sporting stars who had won laurels for the country .

He added that the State intends to bring up a competition- the Lagos grand prix which would be similar to grand prixs in Europe where people will be qualifying from their local governments and wards and compete for three to four days twice in a year.

He asserted that if the market is provided, the partnership to attract sponsorship and money into sports will be actualized just as it has been done in the film industry through Nollywood.

Governor Fashola added that since sports represents the building block of modern society, the state government has decided to go back to the basics by using the Bialosa Asiodu foundation as one of the tools to build a new nation of sportsmen who would compete very fiercely but fairly to win and accept the verdict of the umpire irrespective of how adverse it is.

In his words: “The promise of Bialosa Asiodu foundation represents a very strong platform on which to build and deliver upon the possibilities of athletics in Lagos State and Nigeria. Sports is not just a necessary implement and building block for educational advancement, it also represents a lot more to major building block of modern civilization”.

While alluding to so many things that can be achieved through sports, the Governor said: “Sportsmen are natural competitors. They recognize that for them to win, somebody must lose. They go on with the understanding that in any competition, a winner must emerge”.

The Governor contended that some of the problems confronting Nigerians as a nation today as proper conduct of elections, electoral reforms have been aggravated due to the dwindling number of sportsmen in public service.

Said he: ‘Sportsmen learn team work, sacrifice for the team and also learn to accept collective victory rather than individual successes”.

The Lagos State helmsman also said the story of schools like Igbobi College, City College, Yaba, Zumratul College, Ansar- Ud- Deen College, Isolo and St Finbarrs College represent the great past that must be rebuilt.

He recalled that the Teslim Balogun stadium which used to be known as UAC Stadium has produced some of the greatest footballers of the country like Henry Nwosu and Haruna Ilerika.

Governor Fashola who asserted that without top class facilities, many sportsmen have successfully honed their skills through improvisations at the local levels, adding that: “I remember as a child, playing on the streets side with two pieces of stones serving as the goal post and avoiding falling into the gutter while controlling the ball and that was how many great sportsmen developed”.

Continuing, he said: “Whenever you had the opportunity to unleash your talent on the proper and standardized facility, you will see the true talent and potential. You do not need all of the edifices, you just need the commitment and dedication of great people like all of us to start something. To bend that ark once more to strive to achieve excellence. We don’t need a multitude to make a change. We need a few committed people whom I see here”.

Governor Fashola told the audience that the present administration has demonstrated the possibilities in all economies as it has shown that as it responds to the challenges of climate change, it has unleashed an economy that many thought was virtually impossible and never imagined.

He revealed that horticulture, tree planting, park creation, landscaping has created thousands of jobs in the last 24 months.

He contended that the safety and security of Lagos State is not because of the increased number of Policemen but because of several youths who hitherto were regarded as the dregs of the society, but who are now meaningfully engaged and help manage all the parks been seen in Lagos today.

Governor Fashola said not only are they managing the parks and making Lagos less violent, they are also helping in recreating night life by virtue of the fact that they do shift work, saying until the last 24 months, only Policemen, nurses and doctors worked at night in Lagos.

While acknowledging late Sydney Bialosa Asiodu as a truly gifted multi- disciplinarian sportsman who was cut down in his prime, Governor Fashola said the support of the foundation has been necessitated by the need to use the symbol of multi- disciplinarian talent to deliver on possibilities in sports.

He added that such possibilities will assist in delivering talents not only for the Olympics but as a new industry which can be used to channel the energy of the youths and create opportunities for them to rise from nothing to everything and become celebrities and stars.

Governor Fashola emphasized that the state Government will be achieving this through the creation of a platform for competition for students and catching them young while developing them to mix academics with sports.

Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the occasion and elder brother of late Sydney Bialosa Asiodu, Chief Philip Asiodu described late Bialosa as a young man of great promise who contributed to athletics in no small way.

He expressed gratitude to the State Government for the systematic resuscitation of athletics in the state.

He added that sports plays a very big role in the development of youth and the society, contending that when youths indulge in sports, they will have no time to engage in vices like cultism.

He urged corporate bodies and private individuals to assist in developing sports by supporting the foundation, adding that sports can serve as a tool to forge friendship across ethnic barriers.

Speaking earlier, a friend of the late Bialosa Asiodu and member of the committee on development of athletics, Engineer Yomi Adeyemi- Wilson said the committee intends to raise about N20Million which would be placed in a fixed deposit account with the interests being used to sponsor an athletic competition in memory of late Sidney Bialosa Asiodu who died in 1967 during the Nigerian civil war at the age of 23.

Members of the committee include Henry Amike, Yusuph Alli, Falilat Ogunkoya, Sam John and Segun Odunlami.