Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare, has ordered the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to put into functional use the refurbished Sunday Dankaro House, to serve as the new NFF Secretariat office within two weeks.
Dare gave the order on Thursday when he paid a visit to the structure located inside Package B of MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
“It is a working visit for me, my first time of inspecting Sunday Dankaro Building and I feel it is important to see what is going on with the building. This is a befitting building, I am impressed with what I have seen so far, this building should be functional in two weeks and it is a befitting structure for Nigeria’s football.
“The building is long overdue and that is why the Sunday Dankaro House must be put in place so that the Moshood Abiola Stadium will be busy once again,” Dare said.
The NFF had in the past few years set different dates for its relocation to the new office that was commissioned in 2013 by then Vice-President, Namadi Sambo.
The facility was built by the then Presidential Task Force (PTF) for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, headed by then Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi and set up by then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan.
Jonathan had set up the PTF then in 2009 to complement NFF’s efforts of ensuring the Super Eagles’ qualification for South Africa 2010.
The football house, built at the cost of N339 million is named after Dankaro, an industrialist and a businessman, who was the Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) from 1974-1980.
Dankaro was also a former Chairman of the and the Nigerian Sports Commission (NSC). Nigeria won her maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 1980 under his watch.
The NFF had spent over N200 million on the renovation of the building that stands on two floors on a gross floor area of 2,000 square meters.
The complex boasts of a helipad, a court yard, a penthouse and a manicured park. The ground floor of the building has a conference room and 12 self -contained offices, while the first floor has 14 of such offices. It also has a big conference hall and packing space for 100 cars.
